GOP Senators’ Actions Versus Words On Obama’s Amnesty Play

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) raised a point of order in the US Senate Saturday evening. Heritage Action’s Michael A. Needham explained it this way.

“If Senators are opposed to President Obama’s executive action on immigration, they should vote in favor of Sen. Cruz’s constitutional point of order. A vote against the point of order is a vote in favor of unchecked presidential power and granting work permits and Social Security numbers to people who are in the country illegally.”

Twenty Senate Republicans joined with 54 Democrats in voting again the point of order. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) spoke out previously on Obama’s executive overreach, “Our Founders did not want a king and the American people don’t want a president who acts like one”. Yet, Alexander failed to step up and vote according to his alleged beliefs with respect to the point of order.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) talked a good game, too – until it came time to cast a vote that actually mattered. “While I support fixing our nation’s broken immigration system, the president should honor his own words that unilateral action on immigration reform is ‘not how our democracy functions’ and ‘not how our Constitution is written.’ By circumventing Congress, the president will only make it more difficult to achieve long-term reforms to secure our border, stop future waves of illegal immigration, and reform our legal immigration system.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) did no better when it came to the vote … but then, what did most expect? Here’s an example of his rhetoric that he couldn’t muster the courage to support with his vote. “If the President truly follows through on this attempt to impose his will unilaterally, he will have issued a rebuke to his own stated view of democracy. … The instances of President Obama saying that he does not have the power to do the kinds of things he now plans to do are almost too numerous to list. .. The action he’s proposed would ignore the law.”

The list goes on. Heritage Action has the full round up here.

Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-PA) – “I strongly oppose the President’s latest overreach of his legal authority and his decision to dictate sweeping immigration policy changes without legislation. America’s immigration system is badly broken and cries out for reform, including stronger border security and adequate opportunities for legal immigration. Regrettably, President Obama’s unilateral and legally unauthorized actions will do nothing to fix our broken system, and could encourage even more illegal immigration.”