House Republicans took a swipe at President Obama’s immigration reforms Thursday, pushing through legislation that declares his recent executive action “null and void and without legal effect.”
The measure, drafted by Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., and passed along partisan lines, is largely symbolic since it stands little if any chance in the Senate, which Democrats run until Republicans take control in early January.
And the White House issued a veto threat Thursday for the bill, which would block the president’s unilateral mandate to lift the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented people.
But the measure, which passed 219 to 197 with three lawmakers voting “present,” is just the first legislative salvo of an overall and evolving GOP strategy aimed at stopping the president’s immigration reforms.
“Two weeks ago, President Obama declared war against the Constitution by changing our immigration laws on his own, and Congress today began its fight against this unprecedented power grab by passing the Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.
“Today’s vote is just the beginning of our fight against President Obama’s power grab.”
The Republicans’ next step — and likely fight — will take place next week, when Congress takes up a must-pass measure to keep the government funded and open past Dec. 11. Conservative lawmakers want the measure to include language that would block the president’s move to allow more than 4 million undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. legally.
House Republican leaders, however, fear that such a hardline move could trigger a stalemate in the Senate and lead to a partial shutdown of federal agencies, something they’re eager to avoid after the party was accused of causing last year’s 16-day government shutdown.
But some Tea Party conservatives in the House say such an approach doesn’t go far enough, demanding that the government funding bill include language to strip Homeland Security of funds needed to implement the president’s unilateral immigration reforms.
“We aren’t, with our vote, going to give him one dime to execute his illegal action, and we believe the American people are going to stand with us,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.
Democrats, meanwhile, said congressional Republicans instead should focus their efforts on passing comprehensive immigration reform, a move that could render the president’s executive action void.
“We have a responsibility to fix [the immigration] system the American people have elected people to do so,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “In light of the fact that the Congress of the United States has shirked its responsibility, the president acted.”
