A core group of House Republicans are currently signing on to a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise urging them to hold the line against funding for President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) is leading the effort to thank leadership, and urging it to remain stalwart.
“We write you today to thank you for standing firm and forcing the Senate to act on a Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that stops President Obama’s unlawful executive actions on immigration,” the Republican House members who have thus far signed Duncan’s letter write to Boehner, Scalise and McCarthy. “The House of Representatives continues to reflect the will and sentiment of the majority of Americans by combatting the President’s executive overreach.”
Republicans who have signed Duncan’s letter include: Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Ryan Zinke (R-MT), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Steve King (R-IA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), John Fleming (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), Ted Yoho (R-FL), Gary Palmer (R-AL), Bradley Byrne (R-AL), Curt Clawson (R-FL), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Mark Sanford (R-SC) and Walter Jones (R-NC).
“The Federal District Court’s concerns with the President’s executive actions on immigration are very encouraging,” they write.
However, we must remember that these decisions are subject to review by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court of the United States, and the ultimate fate of the President’s executive action remains in question. For this reason, the Legislative Branch has a responsibility to use its exclusive and constitutionally-granted authority to prevent the President’s unlawful usurpation of power, without waiting for a final interpretation from the Judicial Branch. District Court rulings can be overturned, but the power of the purse is absolute.
They add that it’s the duty of Congress to uphold the rule of law and the system of checks and balances created by the Founding Fathers, and that’s why it’s so important that House Republican leaders don’t cave or back down on this fight.
“As elected representatives of the people, we have an obligation to act,” they write.
American voters supported our position of opposing executive overreach during the November elections, and are solely responsible for giving us control of the Senate as well as a historic majority in the House. Regardless of how we may feel about immigration issues generally, the issue at hand is the preservation of the separation of powers and the preservation of the Constitution. Now is the time to stand firm against these unlawful executive actions.
Thus far, House GOP leadership has stood strong. Boehner and Scalise have both been vocal, saying this bill that blocks funding for Obama’s amnesty will be the only bill that will pass the House, saying there is no “plan B.”
“The House has acted. We’ve done our job. Senate Democrats are the ones putting us in this precarious position,” Boehner said on Fox News Sunday last weekend.
“The only path forward on DHS is for the Senate to get on the bill,” Scalise added in a Breitbart News exclusive a few weeks ago. “It must go through the Senate to get to the president’s desk. If obstructionist Senate Democrats have an issue with the content of the bill, they will have time to address their concerns during open debate. As House Republicans, we did our job – we kept our promise to the American people that we would take action to stop the president’s executive overreach – now it’s time for the Senate to do theirs.”
As things get closer to the Feb. 27 deadline for DHS funding—and a partial shutdown of the department looms—it remains to be seen if Republicans will hold the line to fight Obama’s amnesty or if they’ll back down.
Republican members of the House will still be allowed to sign on to Duncan’s letter, which was provided to Breitbart News by his office ahead of the signing members closing it and sending it to leadership, for at least the early part of Tuesday and probably longer. But many of the signers carry heft throughout the party, and leadership is certainly going to feel the pressure to hang tough.
Senate Democrats have been holding up the House-passed bill in the Senate, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just unleashed a new trap on Monday.
“Some Democrats give the impression they want Congress to address the overreach,” McConnell said on the Senate floor on Monday after Democrats blocked the bill again, according to National Journal. “But when they vote, they always seem to have an excuse for supporting actions they once criticized. So I’m going to begin proceedings on targeted legislation that would only address the most recent overreach from November. It isn’t tied to DHS funding. It removes their excuse.”
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