SCOOP: Ayanna Pressley Forces Floor Vote on Haitian TPS

House Democrats — with a critical assist from two Republicans — just stripped Speaker Johnson of his ability to bury Haiti TPS.

WASHINGTON — A discharge petition to force a House floor vote on restoring Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants crossed the threshold of 218 signatures Saturday, a milestone that strips Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., of his most powerful tool: the ability to simply let a bill die in committee and never speak of it again.

The petition — Discharge Petition No. 15 of the 119th Congress — was filed January 22 by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., targeting the Committee on Rules. It seeks to yank H.Res. 965 out of that committee’s grip, a rule that would allow the full House to immediately consider H.R. 1689, legislation that would require the Department of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for TPS.

Reaching 218 means the petition now has a majority of the full House behind it. That doesn’t happen by accident. It takes organizing. It takes pressure. And it almost always requires members of the majority party to break ranks with their own leadership.