Thread: House Republicans Vow to Continue Battle Against Immigration Measures

Homeland Security funding extension exposes deep divides within GOP

By
Nick Timiraos
March 1, 2015 2:23 p.m. ET
17 COMMENTS

House Republican leaders vowed Sunday to keep trying to block President Barack Obama ’s immigration measures as they continue to struggle over how to keep funding the Homeland Security Department.

Last week’s messy one-week extension of the agency’s funding exposed deep divides within the Republican Party over how to fight the administration’s actions without shutting down parts of the government.

“There’s an element within our party…which is absolutely irresponsible,” said Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. He lashed out at conservative Republicans for their willingness to jeopardize national security funding. “They have no concept of reality,” he said.

Support for a one-week funding patch came together late Friday after a separate three-week short-term spending bill pushed by House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), was defeated by his conservative flank. Funding for the agency had been set to expire at midnight.

Republicans have agreed to fund the agency but also want to use a spending bill to block implementation of Mr. Obama’s executive action on immigration, announced in November. Senate Democrats have prevented the bill from coming up for a vote in the Senate, which passed a separate measure Friday that didn’t include the immigration language. That bill passed on a 68-31 vote.

Mr. Boehner, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, said he didn’t believe conservative Republicans had a plan that could successfully have passed the Senate and been signed into law by Mr. Obama. “We get in an argument on tactics from time to time,” he said. “The goals are all the same.”

Rep. Steve Scalise, a conservative Republican from Louisiana who serves as the majority whip, urged the Senate to work with the House to pass a bill that would fund DHS and block the president’s immigration moves.

“Let’s go to conference and work out these differences and finally put a check on this president,” he said, speaking on Fox News Sunday. “We’re going to keep fighting this battle.”

Republicans tried to pin blame on Mr. Obama, who they said had overreached with his immigration action last fall. But they conceded in television interviews Sunday that they needed to do a better job making that case.

“Look, could we have done better Friday? Yes. And will we? Yes, we will,” said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, (R., Calif.) the House Majority Leader, on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Mr. Boehner, pressed if he could still lead the House of Representatives, said, “I think so. I’m not going to suggest it’s easy, because it’s not.”

Later, asked if he liked his job, he said, “Most days. Friday wasn’t a whole lot of fun, but most days.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), who heads the House Freedom Caucus that was launched earlier this year to push policy further to the right, dismissed out of hand the suggestion that conservative Republicans were seeking to oust Mr. Boehner. “That’s not the point. No, of course not,” he said on CNN.

Other Republicans appeared ready to move on from last week’s funding fight. Mr. King said Congress should pass a clean funding bill before the end of the week. “There is no doubt it will pass,” he said, adding that a “small group” of 40 to 50 Republicans had prevented that from happening last week.

He also warned that continued funding battles threatened to erode the party’s credibility heading into next year’s elections.

“Republicans have to stand behind the speaker and make it clear we’re not going to allow this faction to be dominating and to be impeding what we’re trying to do,” Mr. King said. “Otherwise, we have no chance of winning the presidential race in 2016.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/house-re...res-1425237786

Republican vows are as reliable as the groom who vows on Sunday's wedding to be faithful, but does not come next Friday night. They keep vowing, but ...... Lying is not honesty in marriage or politics.

“Republicans have to stand behind the speaker and make it clear we’re not going to allow this faction to be dominating and to be impeding what we’re trying to do,” Mr. King said. “Otherwise, we have no chance of winning the presidential race in 2016.”

You got it all wrong, Pete. The Speaker is supposed to stand behind the members, who stand behind the citizens of this country. This is a bottoms up deal in our little Republic, not a top down one.

What is it you're trying to do, Pete? Keep terrorists out of the country? Why would funding a Department that lets them in, gives them work authorizations, tax credits and welfare, help you keep terrorists out of the country, Pete?

We're not worried about the Presidential race right now. We're worried about stopping illegal immigration and Obama Amnesty. You're not in the game, Pete, you're out there in hallways eating hot dogs or something. You're missing all the innings. You have to win games before you get to the World Series, Pete. You're worried about the World Series, and you haven't even made a base hit, yet.

By S.A. Miller - The Washington Times - Sunday, March 1, 2015

Lawmakers return Monday to the Capitol without a clear path out of the shutdown showdown over homeland security funds, with Senate Democrats resisting any negotiations and House Republicans determined to block President Obama’s deportation amnesty.

Congress bought itself a weeklong reprieve by passing a last-minute funding extension that avoided a shutdown last weekend, but the new Friday deadline hasn’t altered the impasse.

After rank-and-file House Republicans rebelled last week against their leaders’ strategy, Speaker John A. Boehner said Sunday that his troops were united in the fight to defund Mr. Obama’s immigration actions, if not on the tactics.

“Remember what’s causing this, it’s the president of the United States overreaching and it’s not just on immigration,” Mr. Boehner said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

The Ohio Republican pointed to the 38 times Mr. Obama unilaterally changed the Obamacare law, though it was Mr. Obama’s immigration moves that led to the funding crisis for the Homeland Security Department.

“So the frustration in the country, represented through the frustration of our members, has people scared to death that the president is running the country right off the cliff,” he said.

House Republicans broke ranks over the leadership’s plan to pass a three-week funding bill to prolong the fight and avoid a shutdown of the department that night. Enough GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats to kill the bill in a startling rebuke to Mr. Boehner.

The Senate later sent a one-week funding measure that the House overwhelmingly approved just two hours before a midnight shutdown deadline.

“We do have some members who disagree from time to time over the tactics that we decide to employ,” Mr. Boehner said. “But remember that Republicans are united in this idea that the president has far exceeded his constitutional authority and we all want to do things to stop the president from his illicit activity.”

Indeed, House Republican leaders and rank-and-file conservatives were in rare agreement about not backing down.

Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the conservative’s newly formed Freedom Caucus, threw cold water on the inside-the-beltway chatter about the GOP getting ready to agree to Democrats’ demands.

“That’s not going to happen,” the Ohio Republican said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Mr. Jordan said his party would instead redouble its effort to rally voters against Mr. Obama’s actions, which seek to grant legal status, work permits and Social Security numbers to more than 4 million illegal immigrations.

“We haven’t made the case strong enough. We know it’s unconstitutional and we know it’s unfair,” he said.

With a new deadline looming, House Republicans hope to push Senate Democrats into negotiations on a funding bill that includes anti-amnesty measures.

However, Senate Democrats remained adamant that the House pass a “clean” bill.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that her party would never compromise on the immigration cause.

“We want a clean bill. We have passed, taken votes on a clean bill,” she said. “I see nothing else happening, other than a clean bill.”

Mrs. Feinstein blamed the stalemate on Republicans, who she referred to as a “minority,” despite the GOP having majority control of both the House and Senate.

“What I have seen over the last few years is a growing need of a minority to impose their view, regardless of what the situation is,” she said. “I think most of us are accustomed to sitting down, we work out a compromise, which is not a dirty word, because, in a two-party system, you have to, if you’re going to make progress. Otherwise, you have stasis or gridlock. And so we have had more gridlock.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, last week repeatedly vowed not to go to conference to reconcile the House-passed bill with anti-amnesty measures and the Senate-passed bill without policy riders.

Senate Democrats will get to vote Monday on whether to allow a conference committee. They can block it by denying the 60 votes need to consider forming the committee.

Senate Republicans, who have a 54-seat majority, surrendered last week to demands for a clean bill in order to get Democrats to end their filibuster of the House-passed legislation.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested that Senate Republicans invoke the “nuclear option” of changing the chamber’s rules to stop filibusters, a tactic Senate Democrats used to push through confirmation of Mr. Obama’s nominees when they controlled the chamber.

Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, said the move would hardly be “nuclear” because the anti-amnesty measure had the support of 57 of the chambers 100 senators.

“That is not nuclear when 57 percent of the American representation says it’s wrong,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “That’s not in the constitution. I think they should change the rules.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-amnesty-as-h/

Originally Posted by Judy

You got it all wrong, Pete. The Speaker is supposed to stand behind the members, who stand behind the citizens of this country. This is a bottoms up deal in our little Republic, not a top down one.

What is it you're trying to do, Pete? Keep terrorists out of the country? Why would funding a Department that lets them in, gives them work authorizations, tax credits and welfare, help you keep terrorists out of the country, Pete?

We're not worried about the Presidential race right now. We're worried about stopping illegal immigration and Obama Amnesty. You're not in the game, Pete, you're out there in hallways eating hot dogs or something. You're missing all the innings. You have to win games before you get to the World Series, Pete. You're worried about the World Series, and you haven't even made a base hit, yet.

WTG JUDY