Today, Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Jeff Denham (R-CA), Will Hurd (R-TX) and Lujan Grisham (D-NM) announced that their bipartisan “queen-of-the-hill” rule to allow a floor debate on four DACA solution measures now has the support of 50 Republicans and 190 Democrats for a total of 240 cosponsors, easily surpassing the 218 votes needed to pass the measure through the House. The rule would force a debate and floor vote on Rep. Goodlatte’s Securing America’s Future Act, the clean Dream Act, a bill offered by Speaker Ryan, and the bipartisan USA Act, a bill introduced by Reps. Aguilar, Denham, Hurd and Lujan Grisham earlier this year. Whichever proposal receives the most votes and meets the mandatory majority-vote threshold would be adopted.

“It’s been over seven months since the president ended the DACA program, and Congress has yet to take any meaningful action. Despite multiple bipartisan attempts to solve this problem and create long-term certainty for Dreamers with bills like the USA Act, we still have not been allowed to take a vote on the House floor. I’m proud to support this rule because it would truly let the House work its will and give Dreamers the vote on a pathway to citizenship that they deserve,” said Rep. Aguilar.

“It’s time that Congress does its job and moves forward with one unified, bipartisan strategy for our Dreamers,” said Rep. Denham. “We have the support for an open debate and a vote; no more excuses, no more delays.”

“We cannot avoid action any longer. We must secure our border and create a permanent legislative fix for DACA-recipients. I am proud to continue my bipartisan work to advance the narrowly-focused USA Act through the Queen of the Hill Rule offered by Rep. Denham,” said U.S. Rep. Will Hurd who represents more U.S.-Mexico border than any other Member of Congress. “The support of so many Republicans and Democrats proves that we can solve these problems in a bipartisan way.”

“I’m especially proud of this bipartisan “queen of the hill’ effort, which has the support of 240 Members of the House of Representatives – both Republicans and Democrats. The momentum behind this effort makes it unquestionably clear to Speaker Ryan that an overwhelming number of House Members want the opportunity to vote on a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers. The queen of the hill legislative push is in keeping with our commitment to protecting Dreamers and families, and to using every tool available to pass a bipartisan legislative solution that provides these young people with a path to citizenship. If Speaker Ryan supports this bipartisan effort, I believe that there is enough will and courage in Congress to take up this debate and do the right thing for the hundreds of thousands of young people who have worked to contribute to the only country they’ve ever known,” said Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Michelle Lujan Grisham.

“The American people want their leaders to lead on immigration reform,” said Jeremy Robbins, Executive Director of New American Economy. “A deal to secure the border and protect Dreamers makes sense to both sides of the aisle, and we applaud Rep. Denham for taking the initiative and creating a path through the gridlock.”

Neil Bradley, Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said of the effort, “The Chamber supports the efforts of Representatives Denham, Hurd, Aguilar, Lujan Grisham, and many others to initiate a long-overdue immigration debate in the House of Representatives. We hope their work on House Resolution 774 leads to a serious debate on bipartisan legislation that addresses the plight of Dreamers and implements much needed improvements to our nation’s border security efforts.”

A total of 185 advocacy organizations, including United We Dream, UnidosUS, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), signed a joint statement that said, in part, “We applaud the bipartisan effort led by Rep. Aguilar and Rep. Denham on the ‘Queen of the Hill’ resolution to fix the crisis President Trump created and to respect the will of the American people. Our country cannot wait while our family members, our neighbors, our students, our teachers, and our first responders who are American in all but paper live in fear of deportation. Immigrant youth in our communities should be able to fully contribute to the only country they’ve ever called home. Speaker Ryan, bring up the Dream Act for a vote now and respect the will of the People’s House.”