WASHINGTON — Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Tuesday blasted a plan by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that would fund the government through next September, but readdress in March funding for the Dept. of Homeland Security, which is in charge of implementing the president’s recent executive actions on immigration.
Sessions and other House and Senate conservatives are pushing for a short term spending bill that would allow Republicans to block funding for President Obama’s immigration executive order now, rather than later. They also argue it would allow Republicans to pass a longterm spending bill in January with a GOP-controlled Senate, rather than doing it in December with Democrats still in control during the lame duck session.
“You just can’t be bobbing and weaving on this,” Sessions told reporters on Capitol Hill. “This is not a matter to be discussed at some point. It’s just unacceptable aggrandizement of power that Congress has an institutional duty to reject.”
Boehner and his allies warn that using a short-term spending bill as leverage could result in a presidential veto, which would lead to a partial government shutdown on Dec. 11.
Boehner rolled out his plan in a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday and hopes to bring a bill to the floor next week. Conservatives opposed to Boehner’s plan are expected to meet Wednesday morning to discuss their strategy going forward.
A senior House aide told Yellowhammer that the group of conservatives appears to have enough votes to derail Boehner’s plan, assuming Democrats oppose it as well.
Sen. Sessions full statement in response to Boehner’s plan can be found below.
The Chairman of the Republican Party made a promise to America on executive amnesty: “We can’t allow it to happen and we won’t let it happen… everything we can do to stop it we will.”
Unfortunately, the plan now being circulated in the House fails to meet that test. The executive amnesty language is substantially weaker than the language the House adopted this summer, and does not reject the central tenets of the President’s plan: work permits, Social Security, and Medicare to 5 million illegal immigrants—reducing wages, jobs, and benefits for Americans.
Congress considered and rejected these changes to immigration law in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2014. The President’s action erases the laws Congress has passed in order to implement laws Congress has refused to pass.
Now the President demands Congress fund his imperial decree and declare its own irrelevance.
That is why Congress must respond to the President’s unlawful action by funding the government but not funding illegal amnesty. This is a perfectly sound and routine application of congressional authority. In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reports that last year’s omnibus spending bill included 16 such funding restrictions on fee-based programs.
Such a plan would put the focus where it belongs: on Senate Democrats. They are the ones who should be made to choose sides—save Obama’s amnesty or save Americans’ jobs and borders.
Polling shows voters believe that Americans should get preference for available jobs by almost a 10-1 margin. Republicans should not be timid or apologetic, but mount a bold defense of struggling Americans.
Billions of dollars and countless hours have been spent advocating immigration policies that help everyone but the actual citizens of this country. Who will be their voice, if not us?
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— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) December 3, 2014
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