With a critical funding deadline looming, a federal court ruling has emboldened congressional Republicans to hold their ground in a politically risky Homeland Security funding battle with Democrats that centers on President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
A federal judge in Texas late Monday issued a temporary injunction to stop states from having to comply with Obama’s immigration directives, which provide millions of illegal immigrants with access to work permits and federal benefits.
Republicans want to halt the implementation of the immigration directive permanently by blocking it in a $40 billion Department of Homeland Security funding bill that passed the House in January. Democrats are preventing debate on the bill in the U.S. Senate.
“This stay has only increased the urgency for Congress to deny funds for an illegal amnesty that robs Americans of their constitutional protections,” Stephen Miller, a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., told the Washington Examiner.
Support for the Texas ruling was nearly universal among Republicans.
“Today’s ruling reinforces what I and many others have been saying for a long time,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. “That President Obama acted outside the law when he went around Congress to unilaterally change our nation’s immigration laws.”
Even Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who both back allowing certain illegal immigrants to stay in the United States, said they believe Obama has exceeded his power by issuing the immigration orders.
“Last year, the president overstepped his executive authority and, in turn, hurt the effort toward a commonsense immigration solution,” Bush posted on his Facebook page hours after the Texas court ruling. “Now, more than ever, we need President Obama to work with Congress to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system.”
Congress is under significant pressure to pass a Homeland Security spending bill, because a stopgap measure will expire on Feb. 27.
While Republicans have pledged repeatedly they will not let Homeland Security funding run out, in recent days they have appeared more willing to risk battling with Democrats until the last minute. The court ruling has reinforced the GOP’s resolve, Republican aides told the Examiner.
“The injunction certainly increases the pressure on Senate Democrats, who are now not only blocking [Homeland Security] funding to protect the president, but also to preserve an action that a judge has said is unconstitutional,” Brian Phillips, a spokesman for Senate GOP Steering Committee Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah. “The policy, politics, and the people are with the Republicans. The Democrats must come up with a Plan B.”
Democrats and President Obama have vowed to block the Republican bill unless it is re-written as a “clean” measure that excludes the provisions defunding the executive actions on immigration.
Polls suggest Democrats have little to lose by blocking the GOP bill.
A CNN/ORC survey released Monday found that 53 percent of Americans would blame the GOP if Homeland Security funding runs out, while only 30 percent say it would be Obama’s fault.
The public has historically blamed Republicans for spending showdowns, but this has not hurt Republicans in recent elections.
Despite the court ruling, Democrats on Monday appeared more determined than ever to block the GOP bill unless it is stripped of the immigration provisions. They disputed the ruling and pointed to past immigration executive orders issued by Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
“Senate Democrats have a simple solution for getting out of this jam,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. “Take up and pass a clean bill to fund Homeland Security, then move on to a robust debate on immigration legislation.”
Republicans say they plan to keep pressuring Senate Democrats to stop blocking the Homeland Security bill.
“Today’s ruling,” Sessions said in a statement, “should furnish our colleagues with yet one more reason to end their filibuster.”
