The Obama administration is not too concerned about possible Republican responses to its unilateral administrative actions on immigration.
“What that they might sue?” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said laughing when asked Tuesday about possible Republican retaliation for the executive action.
“They announced they were doing that last week,” he continued. “So, the prospect that Republicans might do even more to try to obstruct the president’s agenda I think is a little far-fetched. It seems to me they have tried every single thing they can think of already to block progress for this country so the fact that they might do more is not something we spend that much time worrying about.”
On Monday, President Obama announced his intentions to take on immigration reform unilaterally.
“America cannot wait forever for [Congress] to act. That’s why today I am beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own, without Congress,” Obama said in his Rose Garden announcement.
House Speaker John Boehner and Republicans blasted Obama for his plans to enact immigration reform administratively.
“It is sad and disappointing that – faced with this challenge – President Obama won’t work with us, but is instead intent on going it alone with executive orders that can’t and won’t fix these problems,” Boehner said.
Last week, the House Speaker said he would be suing Obama over his executive actions. At the time, he did not specify which executive actions a possible lawsuit would cover.
According to Earnest, due to House Republicans’ inaction on immigration reform, Obama “was left with no other option for trying to address what is a very serious problem.”
“So the president is going to charge ahead and he has indicated on a number of occasion that he’s willing to work with Congress where ever he can, but if Congress is not going to do anything, the president is not just going to sit around twiddling his thumbs he’s actually going to move forward with executive action and try to solve some problems,” Earnest said. “That’s after all why he ran for this office, that’s why the American people elected him to this office.”
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