oped: need I say more?
By ERICA WERNER WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House may vote this week to undo President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, House Speaker John Boehner told lawmakers Tuesday as he sought to give outraged conservatives an outlet to vent over Obama's move without shutting down the government.
The move would be mostly symbolic, since Obama would certainly veto such legislation and the Democratic-led Senate likely wouldn't go along with it. But GOP leaders hope it will assuage Republicans furious about Obama's two-week-old actions to shield some 4 million immigrants in this country illegally from deportation, and grant them work permits.
"We're looking at a number of
options in terms of how to address this. This is a serious breach of our
Constitution," Boehner told reporters. "It's a serious threat to our
system of government, and frankly we have limited options and limited
ability to deal with it directly."
Publicly,
the speaker told reporters that Republicans were considering several
options and no decision had been made, but aides and lawmakers said that
he indicated during a closed-door meeting with the rank and file
earlier that the vote on legislation to block Obama was the leading
option. It would be on a bill by Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., aimed at
blocking Obama from unilaterally allowing categories of unlawful
immigrants to live and work here.
Party
leaders then hope to move on next week to voting on must-pass spending
legislation to keep the government running. In the wake of their midterm
election victories last month to win full control of Congress,
Republican leaders are eager to show they can govern responsibly without
risking government shutdowns. But Obama's administrative moves on
immigration and the resulting GOP fury has created complications.
Boehner floated the two-step
approach as Congress reconvened after a week-long Thanksgiving recess.
But there were immediate signs of opposition from immigration
hard-liners who have scuttled past efforts by Boehner to address the
issue.
Several conservative
lawmakers said Boehner's approach didn't go far enough. They said they
would hold out for a spending bill to include language explicitly
blocking Obama's actions from taking effect. GOP leaders fear that could
scuttle the spending bill or even lead to a government shutdown.
"If we start out with a bill
that does nothing to reverse the president's illegal conduct it will be
difficult for me to support it," said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. "I'll be
surprised if they can muster the 218 votes needed to pass the House."
Some conservatives were not mollified by the prospect of voting on Yoho's bill aimed at overturning Obama.
"I'm going to vote for Yoho's bill but it's not going to go anywhere and everybody knows that," said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz.
Meanwhile
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson defended Obama's new
immigration plans before a House committee where Republicans took turns
denouncing them as an unconstitutional power grab that would incite a
new rush of illegal immigration at the border.
"The president's
unilateral actions to bypass Congress undermine the Constitution and
threaten our democracy," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman
of the House Homeland Security Committee. "We will see a wave of
illegal immigration because of the president's actions."
Johnson
disputed that point and others, arguing the president acted within his
executive authority to temporarily defer deportations for certain
immigrants who are not priorities for removal anyway. The actions apply
mostly to people who've been in the country five years or more and have
kids who are citizens or green card holders.
"I'm fully comfortable that we
have the legal authority to push forward these reforms," Johnson said.
"Deferred action is an inherent executive branch authority that can and
should be used from time to time, and we've done so here."
The
spending measure the House will vote on next week will top $1 trillion
and fund the day-to-day operations of Cabinet agencies through the Sept.
30 end of the 2015 fiscal year. The Department of Homeland Security —
whose personnel implement Obama's orders to permit more immigrants here
illegally to remain in the U.S. — may be kept on a shorter leash and be
funded only into early 2015 under a plan floated by Boehner. The idea
would be to try to reverse Obama's moves on immigration when revisiting
its budget next year.
Boehner
said no decision has been made. If GOP leaders go forward with the plan
they would be rejecting demands by conservative activists to take a
more confrontational approach now and try to attach legislation
explicitly blocking Obama's immigration orders to the must-pass spending
bill.
Johnson spoke out strongly
against such a short-term spending measure for his department, saying it
could prevent him from funding needed priorities including hiring
protection for presidential candidates heading into the 2016 elections.
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Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
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