Boehner Slams Executive Amnesty, Says Obama Is Sabotaging Bipartisan Reforms
In a statement released Friday morning, Speaker of the House John Boehner slams President Obama’s executive amnesty, calling it a sabotage of bipartisan efforts and a punishment for those who’ve followed the legal path to citizenship. He goes on to say the House will rise to the challenge, and won’t stand idle as the president goes forward with his plan.
Boehner’s press release, like the statements of many other GOP leaders, slams Obama for executive action on immigration amnesty, referencing a past statement from the president, in which he himself said that executive action on immigration would be the act of a king or emperor, rather than a president.
“The president has taken actions that he himself has said are those of a ‘king’ or an ’emperor’ – not an American president.”
Politifact notes, however, that Obama has responded to that criticism already, with explanations that in those previous statements, he was talking about his inability to use executive action to force Congress to act on a bill that was currently stalled — a slightly different action than the executive amnesty move Obama made last night, in a way that may be hard to distinguish, but does matter legally.
It’s worth noting that in at least one case, Obama made the “not a king” reference in a place where he was being asked, not to force a law to pass, but to use executive action to protect families and provide amnesty until the law could be worked out, but his answer wasn’t clearly a direct response — more of a general statement about immigration reform than an address of the amnesty question.
“This is something that I’ve struggled with throughout my presidency. The problem is that, you know, I’m the president of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed, and Congress right now has not changed what I consider to be a broken immigration system.”
Boehner goes on to say that the president’s executive amnesty will encourage more people to enter the country illegally, despite Obama’s statement that this immigration amnesty does not apply to recent immigrants, and his promise to increase border security.
As for Boehner’s hints that the legislators will prevent Obama’s executive amnesty from being carried out (Inquisitr has already reported on why this can’t be done through budget controls), Obama himself offered a suggestion for that last night.
“And to those Members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill.”
As the GOP slams executive amnesty, will they move forward will legislation of their own?
[photo credit: Gage Skidmore]
