Drake seeks floor vote on border security bill

Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.) will file a discharge petition Tuesday in an effort to force a floor vote on a bipartisan border security bill.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Drake will file the petition on legislation authored by Reps. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.). The bill has 93 Republican backers and 48 Democratic cosponsors.

{mosads}Nineteen House Democratic freshmen support the measure. Other cosponsors include Reps. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), John Murtha (D-Pa.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), and Mark Udall (D-Colo.).

Shuler’s measure seeks to bolster border security by hiring more law enforcement officers, requiring work authorization verification for all employees and expediting the removal of illegal immigrants through an increase in both detention capacity and the number of federal judges.

“It has a broad base of support,” Blunt said.

However, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have expressed major reservations about the bill, which has not been taken up by any of the eight committees it has been referred to.

Shuler has indicated he would sign on to the discharge petition, a practice that is frowned upon by leadership officials in the House. It is unclear how many other Democrats will sign Drake’s measure.

Discharge petitions require 218 signatures to trigger a floor vote. Every discharge petition launched during the last Congress fell short of that mark.

A spokesman for Shuler could not be immediately reached for comment.