Farm bill to get second vote in U.S. House in June: Roll Call

[May 22, 2018]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives will vote for a second time on a massive farm bill after the measure was defeated last week, the No. 3 Republican in the chamber said, according to Roll Call newspaper.

The vote on the $867 billion bill will be held on June 22, Republican Representative Steve Scalise said, Roll Call reported.

Prior to the farm bill vote, the House will consider a conservative immigration bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Roll Call quoted Scalise as saying.

"We're looking at moving the farm bill on June 22 and having the Goodlatte-McCaul bill come up the third week of June," Scalise told reporters, according to Roll Call.

Scalise's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Roll Call said it was not immediately clear if the timing would appease members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of about 30 of the most conservative Republican lawmakers.

The farm bill failed on Friday after Freedom Caucus members withheld their support. They had asked Republican leaders not to hold the vote until the Goodlatte-McCaul immigration bill could be considered.

Scalise said the Goodlatte-McCaul bill, which would give temporary protections to young illegal immigrants but not offer citizenship, was currently short of the votes needed to the pass the House, according to Roll Call.

He said there was an effort underway to find another immigration measure that could pass the chamber, Roll Call said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Sandra Maler)

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