House Republicans, bolstered by a bigger majority, are moving quickly to block President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
Acting on the party’s promise to confront Obama on his unilateral actions to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportations, GOP leaders plan to move on legislation as early as next week.
“The House will soon take action aimed at stopping the president’s unilateral action when it comes to immigration,” House Speaker John Boehner said today.
“Republicans are in agreement that this is a gravely serious matter. The president’s unilateral actions were an affront to the rule of law and our system of government,” Boehner added. “The American people don’t support it, and as their representatives, [we] cannot let it stand. I said we’d fight it tooth and nail when we had new majorities in the House and Senate, and I meant it.”
Republican leaders have not made a decision on the bill’s language, but several ideas already have been revealed.
The language that’s ultimately chosen likely will be included in a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which received only short-term appropriations from the “CRomnibus” spending bill signed by Obama in December.
A bill introduced this week by Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala., prohibits any Homeland Security funds to be used to carry out Obama’s immigration actions.
A similar proposal offered by Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., would explicitly prevent funds collected through fees from being used to implement the immigration actions.
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., previously has said Congress does not have the authority to withhold money from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that would execute Obama’s actions, because it relies mostly on user fees.
”I said we’d fight it tooth and nail when we had new majorities in the House and Senate, and I meant it.” —@SpeakerBoehner
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., filed a more far-reaching bill Wednesday that repeals “executive immigration overreach” and toughens enforcement.
Aderholt’s measure would allow for accelerated deportations of children who come here illegally from Central America—as can be done with those who cross into the United States from Canada or Mexico.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., has a plan to block Obama’s immigration actions. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
The bill would pressure state and local governments to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in detaining illegal immigrants. And it would restore the “Secure Communities” enforcement program that Obama ended with his executive actions.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., introduced a companion bill to Aderholt’s proposal today.
Aderholt’s bill has the support of an outspoken Senate conservative.
Alabama’s Jeff Sessions, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote in a press release that Aderholt’s legislation would “fulfill” the “pledge” by party leadership to block funds for Obama’s actions.
Rogers, the appropriations chairman, told reporters today that the House won’t let funding lapse for Homeland Security when it expires Feb. 27. He plans to release the text of a Homeland Security funding bill Friday, his spokesperson told The Daily Signal.
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris, Republicans are especially hesitant to withhold funds from the entire Homeland Security department for fear of leaving the country vulnerable.
Obama, meanwhile, would likely veto legislation that undoes his immigration plan.
Republicans, however, hope to put the president in a difficult position by inserting language defunding only Obama’s immigration actions, while ensuring the larger spending bill funds the rest of Homeland Security through the fiscal year.
“If [Obama] sees fit to veto, he has to take responsibility for shutting down Homeland Security,” Rogers said.
