House speaker John Boehner told President Obama at a White House meeting last Friday to give the House “one more chance” to pass a bill on immigration. Boehner referenced this conversation at the House Republican conference meeting Thursday morning, according to sources in the room.
The speaker reportedly told his GOP colleagues about his “frustration” with Obama on immigration. The president and his administration have repeatedly said Obama would take executive action on immigration if the Republican House did not pass an immigration bill previously passed last year in the Senate. On Wednesday, Fox News reported Obama could announce his 10-point immigration plan as early as next week.
One House member in Thursday’s GOP conference meeting says Boehner said his message to the president was: “Just give us one more chance to pass an immigration bill.” Another member says those weren’t the House speaker’s exact words but confirmed Boehner mentioned requesting the president hold off on taking executive action.
The first member said there was no indication Boehner meant to pass an immigration bill in the lame duck session. “Nobody’s thinking that,” the member said. “We’re talking next year.”
Boehner did not clarify in the conference meeting how the House planned to act if the president did use executive actions to achieve a number of his immigration priorities.
A letter to the top members from both parties on the House appropriations committee, drafted by Arizona congressman Matt Salmon, proposes including language in an upcoming spending bill that would “prohibit” the use of funds for creating work permits and green cards under a presidential executive action that would violate current law. A total of 59 House Republians signed the letter.
Funding for the government runs out on December 11, and House GOP leadership has said they prefer passing a long-term omnibus spending bill to last through the 2015 fiscal year. Some conservatives have proposed passing a shorter-term funding bill so that the united Republican Congress of 2015 can deny funds for any executive action on immigration.
