House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has praised President Obama for his expected executive action to shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation but said Congress also must act to pass immigration reform legislation.
“We want a bill,” the California Democrat told reporters Thursday. “It’s over 500 days since the Senate passed [an immigration reform] bill, and still no action by the House Republicans on anything.”
“This is a dereliction of duty not to address the broken immigration system in our country.”
Pelosi said that while the Senate measure is “not perfect,” the measure would pass with bipartisan support in the House if GOP leaders were willing to bring it to the floor.
The comprehensive Senate bill passed in 2013 with significant bipartisan support. House Republican leaders have expressed a preference for splitting up the measure so members can vote on individual components, but so far haven’t done so.
Pelosi also scoffed at GOP accusations that Obama is abusing his authority by acting unilaterally in dealing with immigration, saying that “the president is acting as presidents do because we are not acting as legislators do — to pass laws.”
The president is scheduled to announce on Thursday evening a plan that could make as many as five million people eligible for work permits, though they would not be entitled to federal benefits, including healthcare tax credits, under the plan.
