Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL), in remarks prepared for his opening statement in today’s House hearing on “The President’s Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws”, called out the House GOP for wasting time “running out the clock on 2013”.
“Here in the Judiciary Committee we are running out the clock on 2013 and trying to score cheap political points,” he charged accurately.
The Democratic Congressman pointed out, “When it comes to whether the President has broad discretion on whether to prosecute a violation of the law, there really is no debate.” Congressman Gutiérrez called out the Republican majority for refusing to actually legislate, especially on the issue of immigration, “Once again we are bloviating and not legislating in this Committee.”
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“We could be using this time to find common ground or even to have a strenuous and substantive debate on important public policy matters, but instead, we are offering empty assurances and shaping political messages for next fall.” Gutiérrez continued, “Rather than worrying about whether the President we know you “distrust,” is enforcing our laws the way you would like him to, we could be making meaningful progress towards crafting and passing laws for the betterment of the American people.”
Gutiérrez pointed out that the GOP majority claims there is no time for immigration reform, and yet they have all of the time in the world for fake, partisan hearings. “For example, Speaker Boehner, Majority Whip McCarthy, and many other Republicans have said we do not have time to address immigration reform this year… Can anyone recall the last time we had a substantive immigration reform hearing? It was a hearing in July about the plight of undocumented children who have no way of getting legal and was supposed to be a precursor to the introduction of the KIDS Act, a Republican version of the DREAM Act about which we have heard plenty of rumor but seen zero substance.”
Gutiérrez is correct, Republicans are using the hearings to avoid doing real work while gathering soundbites for 2014 on the taxpayer’s dime.
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