WASHINGTON: House Republicans debated how to respond to President Barack Obama’s expected executive action on immigration, with party leaders anxious to craft a solution that satisfies the demands of their most conservative members without courting a government shutdown.
Obama’s expected announcement could extend protections from deportation to as many as 5 million people now in the country illegally. Changes to law enforcement programs and an expansion of business visas also are expected.
In response, House Republicans are considering various options that include suing the president to overturn his action, or passing a stand-alone bill to try to stop him. Some are pushing for House Republicans to write their own immigration bill – something they’ve been unable to do in the past two years – to show they are serious about acting and pre-empt Obama.
Another option would be to pass a temporary spending bill into next year when the Republicans will control the Senate, to try to see if they can use their grip on the purse strings to gain leverage over the president.
But it’s not clear that any of these options will be enough to deflate efforts brewing among conservatives to try to use upcoming must-pass spending bills to block Obama from acting. Pragmatists in the caucus are warning loudly that such an approach could result in a government shutdown because Obama would likely veto the bill. But at least some on the right appear unconcerned.
Republican Rep. Steve King said he refused to “take a position we’re not going to use the power of the purse to restrain a president who has threatened to violate the Constitution in the most obscene manner possible.”
As for shutdown fears, King pointed to the Republicans’ success in the elections as evidence that the party wasn’t hurt by the last government shutdown it provoked. That was a year ago, in an unsuccessful effort to “defund” Obama’s health care law.
Many Republicans, though, are determined to avoid a shutdown, convinced they would pay a political price, and disturbed that they already find themselves in the position of debating one barely a week after the elections awarded them control of the Senate and a bigger majority in the House of Representatives. House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will take over as majority leader come January, both are intent upon avoiding a shutdown.
“Shutting the government down would only serve the president’s interests and we shouldn’t take the bait,” said Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican.
Obama says he must act because House Republicans never did after the Senate passed a sweeping bill with bipartisan support more than a year ago that included a pathway to citizenship for most of the 11.5 million people in the country illegally.
At least some Republicans say they should act now to deprive Obama of that argument, although immigration advocates have little hope of the House arriving at a bill that could pass the Senate and that Obama would sign.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte is exploring options including a lawsuit to stop Obama on immigration, aides said.
Some on the right have gone so far as to suggest that Obama should be impeached if he takes unilateral action on immigration, but few if any in the House view that as a viable option, even if they think it might be merited. -AP
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