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Phil Roe |
As
I’ve said before, I am completely opposed to this irresponsible and
unconstitutional approach to immigration reform. It is extremely
troubling and infuriating that we have a president who believes he can
change laws without congressional approval, but this is not new behavior
from this Administration. I was proud to see Tennessee was the 25th
state to join a lawsuit challenging the president’s actions, and was
pleased to see a court in Western Pennsylvania rule his actions were
unconstitutional. We must continue to fight these actions in every way
possible—both through the courts and in Congress.
One of the first actions I took in the 114th
Congress was to join 56 of my colleagues in writing to House Speaker
John Boehner urging him to keep a commitment he made at the end of the
last Congress for the House to move swiftly to eliminate funding for the
implementation of this policy. The legislation we passed in December
has given the new Congress, which is led by Republicans in the House and
Senate, ideal conditions to fight the president’s policy, and I am
pleased to report that this week, the House took our fight to the next
level.
In December, we passed a bill
that only funds the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – through
February because DHS is the agency in charge of implementing the
president’s executive amnesty. This week the House passed a measure
funding DHS operations for the rest of the fiscal year that blocks
funding to implement the president’s executive amnesty; ensures no
illegal immigrant receives any federal benefit; and stops the
Administration from considering new, renewal or previously denied
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals applications—the policy that
allows unaccompanied minors to stay in the country. Now the Senate must
consider this legislation, and I hope they move swiftly to get
legislation to the president’s desk that funds the important work being
done at DHS and that blocks these irresponsible executive actions.
With
a Republican-led House and Senate, President Obama has no choice but to
work with Congress if he expects to accomplish anything in the final
years of his presidency. And while I’d like to work with the president
to find solutions to the many issues facing our country, we can’t
accomplish anything meaningful if the president continues to try to
ignore our laws and implement policies that haven’t been authorized by
Congress. It’s up to the president. He can walk back his irresponsible
governing tactics and work with Congress, or he can expect strong
pushback from both chambers of Congress until the end of his presidency.
I hope President Obama will choose effective governing, but if not, I’m
ready to keep fighting for the American people.
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