President Obama isn’t fooling around with House Republicans on immigration. The president threatened to veto a House Republican bill that would block his immigration executive orders.
The White House issued the veto threat in a statement,
The Administration strongly opposes the substitute amendment to H.R. 5759 that seeks to restrict the President’s immigration accountability actions. H.R. 5759 would make the broken immigration system worse, not better. By attempting to restrict the Administration’s ability to conduct national security and criminal background checks on undocumented immigrants, H.R. 5759 would make the Nation’s communities less safe. By attempting to make it more difficult for undocumented workers to register and pay taxes, the bill would hurt the Nation’s economy as well.
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The bill’s objective is clearly to nullify and block implementation of these executive actions, which would have devastating consequences. It would lead to the separation of families and prevent additional DREAMers from fully contributing to American life. It would also make it more difficult for immigration officials to conduct background checks, for undocumented workers to help the economy by paying taxes, and for the Federal government to focus on removing serious criminals, recent border crossers, and other threats.
The President’s actions will increase accountability in the Nation’s broken immigration system while he continues to urge the Congress to finish the job and pass common sense immigration reform that offers meaningful solutions to the broken system.
If the President were presented with H.R. 5759, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
In case there was any slight thought that Boehner’s plan might work, the White House put an end to that idea. The House Republicans who are opposed to what Boehner was offering already understood that the bill would be DOA. The symbolic gesture of trying to block the executive orders would accomplish nothing.
President Obama’s White House isn’t about to let Speaker Boehner off of the hook. By caving to the anti-immigration members of his own party, Boehner continues to take a bad situation and make it worse.
Republicans have painted themselves into a corner by refusing to act on immigration. The bill to block the Obama executive orders will almost certainly return after Republicans take the majority in Congress, but President Obama will veto the bill if it ever gets out the Senate, and Mitch McConnell will not have enough votes to override the veto.
After the vote John Boehner will be able to stand in front of the cameras and say that the House acted to stop the president, but the reality is that the vote itself will be say more about the angry impotency of House Republicans than policies of President Obama.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
