MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) addressed the U.S. House Tuesday, submitting a letter agreed to by Rep. Paul Ryan (WI-01) which formalizes his pledges regarding comprehensive immigration reform, or amnesty, bills.
The letter states that if elected Speaker, Ryan will not bring up immigration reform “so long as Barack Obama is president.” Ryan also promises to not allow any immigration bill to reach the floor for a vote unless it is supported by a majority of Republican House Members.
Brooks wrote the letter to Ryan outlining these two representations and personally delivered it to him on Oct. 22. Ryan then called Brooks and stated that the letter accurately portrayed his immigration representations, which led to Brooks submitting the letter and Ryan’s response for the Congressional Record.
These pledges come after serious concerns from many Republican representatives, including Mo Brooks and Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Their concerns for Ryan stem from the fear that he will use the role of Speaker to push through immigration policies that will suppress the wages of and take jobs from struggling American families.
Last week, Brooks stated that Ryan has the “absolutely worst record on border security of any Republican in the House of Representatives.” In addition, Sessions added that it’s important that Ryan doesn’t “use that office to override the basic Republicans who elected us.”
However, after several weeks of uncertainty, Ryan has in recent days been able to gather support from every corner of the fractious Republican conference. A super-majority of the Freedom Caucus announced their support for Ryan, in spite of their ideological differences, because Ryan assured the group he would return the House to “regular order” and implement a more “bottom-up” approach to governing.
In addition, through the promises Brooks secured from Ryan about the amnesty bills, Brooks announced his support for Ryan as House Speaker.
“Paul Ryan confirmed that he meant what he said and would keep his word,” said Brooks. “Based on Paul Ryan’s representations and my trust that Paul Ryan is a man of his word, I will vote for Paul Ryan for House Speaker on the House Floor if he is the Republican nominee.”
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