House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters today that blocking funding for President Obama’s immigration executive orders shouldn’t hurt the GOP’s standing with Latino voters because it’s not an issue of immigration.
At a press conference with Republican House leaders, Boehner was asked about Mitt Romney getting just 27 percent of the Latino vote in 2012 and what the legislation in the 114th Congress could mean for GOP candidates down the road.
“We’re voting to block the president’s overreach, his executive overreach, which I believe is beyond his constitutional duty and, frankly, violates the Constitution itself. This is not about — not about actually the issue of immigration. What it is, it’s about the president acting lawlessly,” Boehner said.
“Our goal here is to fund the Department of Homeland Security. And our second goal is to stop the president’s executive overreach. This is not the way our government was intended to work,” he added. “The president said 22 times that he didn’t have the authority to do what he eventually did. He knows — he knows the truth here and so do the American people. And our job is to listen to the American people and hold the president accountable.”
Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, warned last month that the Republicans’ legislative pushback “is not lost on Latino voters, nor the millions of American families who will finally find some relief in the president’s action.”
“House Republicans had yet another opportunity to demonstrate leadership on immigration,” she said. “Instead, they confirmed that they have no intention of acting on this issue, opting for a symbolic vote that embraces a draconian, unworkable mass deportation strategy and attacks the only semblance of progress we have made in more than two decades.”
The main House bill comes from Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), who introduced the legislation when he was sworn in last Tuesday.
“It not only defunds the president’s actions towards amnesty but also removes the president’s discretion in the ability to grant work permits, Social Security, and other federal benefits that go along with his order,” Aderholt said. “My legislation will also put limits on the president’s future ability to enact such wide-reaching actions that circumvent the Constitution’s separation of powers. It returns the legislative authority of our government back to the legislative branch.”
“As we begin this new session of Congress, it will be the president’s first experience working with a Congress entirely controlled by the Republicans. I hope that Mr. Obama understands that the American people spoke very loudly during the election in November and want a new direction away from his liberal policies.”
Aderholt’s bill got a key conservative endorsement from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).
“It would block funds for the President’s illegal scheme; surely, Congress should not fund an illegal act that eliminates our constitutional role as a lawmaking body,” Sessions said.
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