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| Must I do everything? |
The Obama administration is "not bluffing" in its intent to take executive action on immigration policy if House Republicans don't act soon, top Democratic leaders warned Thursday.
President Obama has delayed any potential changes to his deportation policy to allow House GOP leaders time to bring legislation to the floor this summer. But if the Republicans don't act in July, the Democrats say, unilateral changes by Obama are inevitable.
"We're at the end of the line," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said Thursday during a press briefing in the Capitol. "We're not bluffing by setting a legislative deadline for them to act.
"Their first job is to govern," Menendez added, "and in the absence of governing, then you see executive actions."
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) piled on. Noting that a year has passed since the Senate passed a sweeping immigration reform bill with broad bipartisan support, he urged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to bring a similar bill to the floor.
"I don't know how much more time he thinks he needs, but I hope that Speaker Boehner will speak up today," Durbin said. "And if he does not, the president will borrow the power that is needed to solve the problems of immigration."
The Republicans are opposed to doing anything on the immigration policy, in fact many of them believe that is why Eric Cantor lost his primary.
So it is pretty clear that Boehner and the House Republicans are not going to bring the bill to the floor anytime soon, and if the President attempts to pass immigration reform on his own and they do nothing, they are at risk of losing their seats in the next election cycle.
Now the only question remaining is are the Republicans serious about trying to sue the President, or is all of this simply a way to save face while forcing the President to take all of the heat for immigration reform while allowing the Republicans to stand back throwing mud and staying squeaky clean themselves?
I tend to think it is the latter, which makes the Republicans a party of shiftless cowards.
Not that that is any news to most of us.
Staying squeaky clean?!?
ReplyDeleteREPUBLICANS?!?!?!?!
IN YOUR FACE Boner!
ReplyDeleteObama Dismisses Boehner Lawsuit As Nothing More Than A 'Stunt'
President Barack Obama on Friday said he wasn't going to apologize for his use of executive power, dismissing a planned lawsuit by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) as nothing more than a campaign ploy.
"The suit is a stunt,” Obama said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."
...“You notice that he didn't specifically say what exactly he was objecting to,” Obama said in the interview. “I'm not going to apologize for trying to do something while they're doing nothing."
...Obama said he was forced to take action because Congress refused to do its job.
"What I've told Speaker Boehner directly is, if you're really concerned about me taking too many executive actions, why don't you try getting something done through Congress?" Obama said on ABC. "The majority of American people want to see immigration reform done. We had a bipartisan bill through the Senate. And you're going to squawk if I try to fix some parts of it administratively that are within my authority, while you are not doing anything?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/27/obama-john-boehner-stunt_n_5536655.html
Exactly one year after the Senate passed an immigration reform bill that built a compromise on an exchange of increased enforcement for legalization for the 11 million, Republicans have now officially abandoned any pretense of a willingness to participate in solving the immigration crisis. Instead, they have committed the party to a course premised on two intertwined notions: There are no apparent circumstances under which they can accept legalization of the 11 million; and as a result, the only broad response to the crisis they can countenance is maximum deportations.
ReplyDeleteThis means it’s now all in Obama’s hands to decide what he can do unilaterally to ease the pace of deportations and address the current unaccompanied migrant crisis.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/06/27/the-gop-is-now-officially-the-party-of-get-the-hell-out/
That brings me to the other, almost completely unreported fact in this latest chapter of the IRS saga. Would it surprise you to learn that the White House has searched for, and submitted, every single email between Lerner and any official in the Executive Office of the President, and every email that was even sent to both Lerner and any EOP employee? This shouldn’t be a surprise, because then-White House Press Secretary Jay Carney explained all of this to Fox News’ Ed Henry at his final briefing last week. Can you guess how many emails they found, or how many of them contained evidence of possible collusion between Lerner and the White House?
ReplyDeletehttp://thedailybanter.com/2014/06/media-jon-stewart-arent-telling-irs-emails/
I detest the Republicans in the U.S. Congress! They have to go for obstructing and not doing a damned things since President Obama was elected the first time!
ReplyDeleteThey are taking a salary and benefits for not doing a damned, fucking thing! Plus, it's our taxpayer money! And, they are rated poorly as a unit by the American people for not doing their job! Americans would be fired by their bosses should they do the same thing in their jobs! What bullshit!
VOTE them out of office every chance you get - across the nation!
Thank god we have President Obama at the helm of our country. I respect and love the guy and am more than delighted I voted for him both times! I'm white - in my 70's - retired - on Medicare (thankfully!) - and a political junky.
The Republicans are assholes and alcoholic Boehner is one of the worst!
President Obama is a master chess player. Your move Republicans..........
ReplyDeleteThe caption is spot on!
ReplyDeleteI think they better be very careful about shirking their responsibilities and putting it all on the President.
ReplyDeleteLook how that worked for the ACA.
Now that the ACA is working and people like it, Obama is getting all the credit.
If they continue to obstruct by NOT bringing the legislation forwards they risk the same thing. Suing the President is a bluff. They can't do it legally, not under the Constitution. If he acts, they once again have handed over what they are supposed to be doing to a President that is getting it done. Not only that, if he "solves" or at least helps the immigration problem, the Democrats will solidify more hispanic voters. You don't have to be an immigrant to be concerned with this problem. There are voters that will vote Democratic just because the Democrats by way of the President got the job done and the Republicans just sat on their hands, screaming racist bigotry.
Once again, the Republicans have taken an opportunity and thrown it away. They could have led with the ACA as it was basically what they proposed years ago. Instead of owning it, they gave it to the President. The same thing is going to happen with immigration reform. They could own it, instead they are going to give it away.
They are shooting themselves in the foot for November.
I'm glad to see President Obama push back on the GOPTP House Leaders meltdown. No one can fault President Obama for doing his job the best he can, and this "lawsuit" will have the same effect on Boehner that stepping on a hoe does. I just hope there's a photo of when the handle hits him in the face.
ReplyDelete