Republicans Can’t Stop Obama: Boehner Told He Can’t Defund Immigration Executive Orders

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President Obama has won again as a Republican House committee has notified congressional Republicans that it is impossible to defund Obama’s executive orders on immigration.

The Hill reported,

“This agency is entirely self-funded through the fees it collects on various immigration applications,” the committee said in a statement. “Congress does not appropriate funds for any of its operations, including the issuance of immigration status or work permits, with the exception of the ‘E-Verify’ program. Therefore, the appropriations process cannot be used to ‘defund’ the agency.”

A spokesman for Rogers and the panel elaborated on the point in a discussion with reporters.

“We cannot, literally cannot, defund that agency in an appropriations bill because we don’t appropriate that agency. That agency is entirely fee-funded,” spokeswoman Jennifer Hing said.

House and Senate Republicans are left with two options. They can either shut down the government in December or try to impeach the president. A third option is to continue their endless campaign of obstruction. The third option is the least interesting to congressional Republicans who are craving a chance to punish this president for his executive action immigration.

Congressional Republican leadership was strongly favoring defunding the executive orders. They were already tinkering with plans that would fund all parts of the government, but not provide funding for the implementation of the president’s executive orders. Those plans can go in the trash. As a result of this development, Boehner and McConnell are going to be under intense pressure to shut down the government in either December or early next year.

As the nation witnessed last year, it might not matter what Speaker Boehner wants. Boehner promised that there would be no government shutdown, but was powerless to stop the members of his own House caucus from shutting down the government.

The country looks to be heading for an exact replay of last year’s events. Republicans are powerless. They can’t stop the president’s executive orders, and their rage could sow the seeds for their self-destruction before they take control of Congress.

It looks like Obama wins again, and the heat is on John Boehner to avoid another Republican disaster.

Jason Easley

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