President Donald Trump said Friday he would not sign a “moderate” immigration bill being finalised by House Republicans, igniting confusion on Capitol Hill over a GOP bill that Trump’s allies believed had his support.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has said that Trump backs the emerging immigration compromise between the party’s battling conservative and moderate wings.
GOP aides said Trump’s remark caught party leaders off-guard, and White House officials did not immediately respond to requests to clarify the President’s comment.
Republicans leaders plan campaign-season votes next week on the middle-ground bill and a hard-right alternative. Both bills contain stringent security provisions and money to build Trump’s proposed wall with Mexico, but only the compromise measure gives young immigrants who arrived in the US illegally as children a chance to ultimately become citizens.
The conservative measure is virtually certain to be rejected due to opposition and moderate Republicans and perhaps all Democrats.
The compromise bill’s fate is less clear, with some conservatives opposing it for not going far enough. Trump’s endorsement has been viewed as critical if it is to have a chance of passage.
“I’m looking at both of them,” Trump told reporters at the White House.