Speaker John Boehner is extending his stated desire to uphold the so-called Hastert rule on immigration to any conference report on legislation related to comprehensive immigration reform. A conference report is what emerges after the House and Senate convene to iron out the differences of bills in their respective chambers.
A Boehner spokesman said he had consulted the speaker on the matter and that his earlier comments today, about wanting a majority of the House GOP to back any immigration bill, applied to any conference report.
“I also suggested to our members today that any immigration-reform bill that is going to go into law ought to have a majority of both parties’ support if we’re really serious about making that happen,” Boehner said earlier.
I asked Boehner specifically at the press conference this morning whether that view applied to any conference report, and he said, “We’ll see when we get there.”
In the original remarks, Boehner said that the immigration bill “ought to” enjoy the support of a majority of the GOP conference. It’s strong language but short of a promise.