Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) during an appearance on Breitbart News Sunday said this will be a critical week in the ongoing Congressional debate over what to do about the estimated 57,000 Central American children who have entered the United States illegally over the past nine months, resulting in a humanitarian and political crisis.
President Obama has repeatedly threatened to take executive action on immigration because Congress has thus far rejected legislation that would grant any form of amnesty to certain illegal aliens.
Sessions told Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen Bannon on Sunday that any immigration-related bill passed by Congress “should have in it language that bars any president from expending any money to carry out” executive action that would grant any form of amnesty.
“This goes to the very core of law,” Sessions said. “And if we allow that to occur and if the president does such a thing, there is no moral authority to enforce any law in the future and all of our laws will be weakened.”
Sessions called for a “public refutation” of the president’s plan and said he hopes that “every patriot will engage… (to) win this fight.”
“The American people will not allow this to happen,” Sessions said, urging Americans to pressure their congressmen “to vote explicitly to say the President of the United States cannot spend a dime of money… to execute any plan like this.”
“How Congress chooses to act in the coming hours and days will determine whether the President succeeds in his plan to nullify the immigration laws of the United States,” Sessions warned.
Newly elected House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Sunday that he plans to stay in Washington until Congress comes to an agreement on an emergency spending plan to address the issue. Congress is scheduled to go on a five-week recess beginning this weekend. House Republicans reportedly want a $1 billion emergency-spending plan, far less than the president’s $3.7 billion request.
Sessions was fiercely critical of a plan crafted by a “working group” backed by House Speaker John Boehner last week, calling it an “institutional surrender to the planned illegality” of President Obama.
Sessions has, however, voiced his support for a bill by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) that would prevent President Obama or any future president from unilaterally granting amnesty to illegal immigrants.
(h/t Breitbart News)
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