Defiant Obama: I Will Use My Power

Politico

By Josh Gerstein

November 14, 2014

Defiant Obama: I will use my power 

YANGON, Myanmar — President Barack Obama on Friday defended his plans to use executive power to bypass Congress, signaling that he’s determined to move on issues like immigration and climate change, especially when lawmakers have failed to act.

 

“They have the ability to fix the system. What they don’t have the ability to do is expect me to stand by with a broken system in perpetuity,” Obama said on immigration reform at a joint press conference here with Burmese dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “It’s way overdue. We’ve been talking about it for 10 years now and it’s been consistently stalled.”

 

Obama said he’s determined to grant relief to illegal immigrants in the coming weeks if Congress doesn’t produce a bill first.

 

“I gave the House over a year to at least give a vote on the Senate bill. They failed to do so,” the president said. “I indicated to Speaker Boehner several months ago that if Congress failed to act, I would use all lawful authority that I possess…And that’s going to happen before the end of the year.”

 

Obama also suggested that the deal he cut with China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was proper because he has to take into account longer-term interests than do lawmakers who have resisted such actions.

 

“I have been very clear I have a responsibility as president not just to the current generation but but to future generations,” the president declared. “I took seriously the notion that we want all countries to participate in solving a global problem so I engaged with China over a lengthy set of negotiations and by all independent accounts for the first time we got China to make a very serious commitment to constrain its greenhouse gas emissions. Why would anybody be against that? It sounds like the right thing to do to me.”

 

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Republicans have faulted the agreement for requiring the U.S. to cut emissions by 2025 to 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels, while China can continue increasingly greenhouse gas output until 2030.

 

Obama did not respond to that criticism on Friday, but his aides have said the difference takes account of China’s lower level of economic development and its dependence in the short-term on coal-fired power plants to meet its booming energy needs.

 

On another energy issue, the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S., Obama seemed intent on downplaying the potential benefits of the project. While not signaling a plan to approve or reject the pipeline, he said claims that Keystone would be an economic boon for the U.S. are exaggerated.

 

“I have to constantly push back against the idea that Keystone is either a massive jobs bill for the U.S. or is somehow lowering gas prices. Understand what the project is, it will provide the ability for Canada to pump their oil and send it through their land down to the Gulf where it will be sold everywhere else,” the president said.

 

Republicans and some Democrats are backing legislation to force approval of the pipeline, which is still under review by the State Department. Senate leaders have granted a vote on the measure next week in an apparent bid to help Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), an ardent supporter of the project, in the run-off election she faces next month. The House is also likely to vote as soon as next week.

 

Obama said the State Department process should be allowed to run its course and he suggested it can’t be completed until a Nebraska state court rules on legal disputes about the possible route of the pipeline through that state.

 

The president also seemed to issue a veiled threat that it would be a mistake for members of Congress to try to thwart him on any of the disputed issues by adding riders to budget bills needed to keep the government running. Some Republican lawmakers are urging the use of budget measures to do just that on immigration by barring funding to carry out whatever immigration relief Obama seeks to offer through executive action.

 

Obama warned against “having disagreement on a single issue suddenly be a deal-breaker on every issue.”

 

“Democracy cannot work that way,” he added. “There will always be some differences.”

 

A senior administration official said Obama has still not decided precisely when to announce his new moves on immigration. Some in Congress want them announced soon, perhaps as early as next week, the official said. Other lawmakers want Obama to wait until after the Congress passes a continuing resolution to extend government funding, which is scheduled to run out Dec. 11.

 

The president said he remains open to Republicans acting on immigration and will revoke any executive actions he takes if presented will a reform bill he’s willing to sign. He also said he’s open to working with the GOP on a number of other issues where agreement with the White House seems feasible, such as tax reform and promoting trade.

 

“I’m game,” Obama said.

 

Obama’s comments on tensions in his relations with Congress came as he neared the end of a five-day swing through Asia and prepared for a two-day stint at a summit meeting in Australia before returning to the U.S. this weekend.

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