House Speaker John Boehner says his fellow House Republicans support his multi-pronged approach to stop President Obama’s immigration reforms while also avoiding a government shutdown, brushing aside complaints from some conservatives in his conference that he isn’t doing enough.
“We think this is the most practical way to fight the president’s action,” the Ohio Republican told reporters Thursday. “We listen to our members, and we listen to some members who are, frankly, griping the most. This was their idea of how to proceed.”
Boehner’s hybrid approach includes holding a Thursday afternoon vote on legislation that declares the president’s recent executive actions on immigration “null and void and without legal effect.” The bill, written by Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., is expected to pass the House along partisan lines but die in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
If that happens, House Republican leaders may consider carving out funding for Homeland Security Department programs from an omnibus spending bill needed to keep the government funded and running past Dec. 11. The move is intended to starve the agency of funds used to implement the president’s unilateral immigration reforms.
Some conservative House GOP members want Boehner to take a harder-line approach, including possibly threatening to shut down the federal government unless the president rescinds his executive action on immigration.
Boehner suggested that while “there are a lot of options on the table,” shutting down the government isn’t a preferred move.
“There are options out there, and we’re going to continue to pursue those options,” he said.
The speaker added that Republicans have “limited options” to push back at Obama’s immigration mandate until the party takes control of the Senate next month.
“I’m not going to get into hypotheticals of what we could or couldn’t do,” he said.”But I do know this. Come January we’ll have a Republican House and Republican Senate, and we’ll be in a stronger position to take actions.”
If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., ignores the House’s immigration bill as expected, Boehner said such an act would show “monumental arrogance.”
“The American people elected us to heed their will and not to bow to the whims of a White House that regards the legislative process established by the Constitution as little more than a nuisance,” he said.
