Republicans are still split and bickering over their next move as President Obama builds his case for his unilateral action giving legal relief for 4.1 million immigrants.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, this week vowed to take action against what Republicans have labeled “executive amnesty.” He also is considering expanding his lawsuit over the president’s unilateral executive actions on Obamacare to include this week’s circumvention of Congress on immigration.
But conservatives still pushing for a way to defund Obama’s sweeping immigration action quickly rejected the move as weak and too time-consuming to be effective. They argue that it should, by no means, be the main way Republicans in Congress try to fight Obama’s executive action on immigration.
“Boehner’s tepid lawsuit response to five years of President Obama’s executive actions to willy nilly change the law without Congress sadly demonstrates the profound weakness of his leadership,” said Americans for Limited Government Nathan Mehrens Friday after House Republicans filed their lawsuit challenging Obama’s executive actions on the Affordable Care Act.
By the time the lawsuit winds its way through the court system, Mehrens said, Obamacare will be fully implemented. He also made the point that the threat of the lawsuit never stopped Obama from moving forward on the executive action on immigration.
“It is this kind of pathetic response that encourages Obama to continue his effective dissolution of the separation of powers,” he added.
Boehner and incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., want to avoid any budget fights or threats to shut down the government – especially during the lame-duck session — right after a wave election in which voters expressed deep frustration with Washington dysfunction. Both have tried to convince their conferences to pass a massive spending bill funding the government through the end of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
But right-wing stalwarts in the House argue that such an effort gives away the store, that Republicans will have little power or leverage to defund Obama’s immigration “executive amnesty,” Obamacare and other administration regulations if they pass such a sweeping and long-term spending measure.
Throughout the week, Boehner and House GOP leaders have tried to convince conservatives in the conference to back down.
During a closed-door conference meeting mid-week, Republican leaders tried to persuade conservatives to pass the omnibus now, telling them that if they did, they could de-fund Obama’s “executive amnesty” next year through after-the fact budget cuts knows as recisions.
But anti-amnesty hawks argued that such a scenario would require a presidential signature on a bill that Obama would undoubtedly veto.
On Thursday afternoon, the Republican leadership made a second bold attempt to control conference rebels. The House Appropriations Committee released a statement saying it is impossible to defund Obama’s executive action on immigration because the primary agency responsible for implementing Obama’s actions is funded entirely by user fees.
Baffled by the series of excuses, conservatives say that argument is specious because Congress can change the way the agency is funded at any time or can shut off the spending spigot for the workers’ salaries or office supplies, among other options.
One option Republicans have is to advance a stop-gap spending bill that funds the government into the first few months of the new year at current spending levels and puts off the amnesty fight until Republicans control both chambers of Congress. But they don’t believe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will go along with it because he has no incentive to do so.
Instead, House conservatives, such as Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, are pushing their leaders not to cave in to Reid and instead attach a rider defunding amnesty to a stop-gap spending bill to keep the government running after Dec. 11.
“The logical thing to do is to pass a continuing resolution instead of a massive omnibus” spending bill, Gohmert told the Washington Examiner. “People who have been voted out of office and no longer have the trust of their constituents shouldn’t be the ones deciding on a whole lot of Christmas trees and ornaments to be giving folks as they leave.”
Gohmert dismisses other possibilities Republicans leaders are suggesting to undo the president’s amnesty next year, such as attaching a rider to other bills Obama wants passed.
But Gohmert also argues that such an effort will be much more difficult than if Republicans stick to their guns and pass a defund measure now.
