Summary: John Boehner announces the Republican plan to attack President Obama’s immigration executive order through the courts.
House Speaker John Boehner plans to repeat the route he took when faced with President Barack Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act: he plans legal action against the Obama administration challenging the president’s executive action on immigration.
As of Tuesday morning, Boehner announced the plan to Republican members, saying “we are finalizing a plan to authorize litigation on this issue – one we believe gives us the best chance of success.”
Yet many think the chances of success are dismal, and conservatives are conflicted on this frustrated stratagem.
As for Democrats, a few took the opportunity to sneer at this, as a matter of course, with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman responding to Boehner’s words as “an embarrassing admission of failure for not passing immigration legislation.” It seems when something is embarrassing it has to be first pointed out as being so.
Nevertheless, Republicans seem to have decided that they can’t rally the support they need to pass their border security bill, since the Democrats are deadlocked against it, and not enough conservatives are on board. Attacking Obama’s executive action apparently seemed to be the best next thing.
“We’re tired of trying to be too cute by a half. You know, playing these bait and switch moves and sending something over there [to the Senate] and then conveniently trading it for allowing the president’s order to go through,” said Arizona Republican Rep Matt Salmon.
When Boehner was asked his next move if the Senate rejects the House bill to defund Obama’s order, he said, “there’s no reason for me to speculate on what we will or won’t do.” Politics being what they are, there is always some other avenue to try, whether likely to succeed or not.
News Source: CNN