Wall Street Journal (Washington Wire Blog)
By Laura Meckler
November 9, 2014
A
member of the Senate GOP leadership said Sunday that Democrats’
handling of issues including the nomination of a new attorney general
and immigration in the next few weeks will set the tone
for the next Congress.
Sen.
John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) said it would be a mistake for President
Barack Obama to act on his own to change the immigration system. He said
it would also a mistake for Democrats to try
to confirm Loretta Lynch as the next attorney general during the
year-end lame-duck session, when Democrats retain control of the Senate.
“What
the president decides to do over the next two months sets the tone for
the next two years,” Mr. Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Republican
Policy Committee, said on Fox News Sunday.
On
Saturday, Mr. Obama announced his selection of Mr. Lynch, the U.S.
Attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y., to replace Attorney General Eric Holder. Mr.
Obama noted on Saturday that she has twice been
confirmed by the Senate to that post.
Mr.
Obama’s action puts Democrats in a position to decide whether to push
the nomination through the Senate while they control the body, as
opposed to waiting until next year, when the new
GOP-controlled Senate will take office. Mr. Barrasso said the Senate
hasn’t confirmed an attorney general during a lame-duck, post-election
period since 1906.
“The
attorney general of the United States is a very consequential
position,” Mr. Barrasso said. He added that he wants Mr. Obama’s nominee
to answer questions about the legality of his planned
executive action on immigration. Mr. Obama has said any actions he
takes will be within the law.
“If
we’re going to have an era of good faith here, we need to begin with
the confirmation process for one of the most important jobs in the
country, and that’s attorney general,” Rep. Shelley
Moore Capito (R., W.Va.), who was just elected to the Senate, said on
Fox.
The
White House doesn’t appear to be pushing for a confirmation during the
lame-duck session. “We defer to the Senate leadership and Judiciary
Committee, but believe she should be confirmed
as soon as possible,” a White House official said.
The
immigration conflict will be far harder to resolve. Mr. Obama has vowed
to act by year-end on changes to the immigration system, including
ratcheting back on deportations. His move is
expected to provide a temporary safe harbor for perhaps millions of
people. Republicans are warning him that such a move will “poison the
water” for cooperation over the next two years.
In
an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Mr. Obama said has waited
long enough for Congress. The Senate passed a bipartisan bill last year,
but the House never took it up. Mr. Obama said
he had warned House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) this summer that he
would act on his own if they continued to stall.
“For
a year I stood back and let him work on this. He decided not to call
the Senate bill and he couldn’t produce his own bill,” he said.
“I’m
going to do what I can do through executive action. It’s not going to
be everything that needs to get done. And it will take time to put that
in place,” he said. “And in the interim,
the minute they pass a bill that addresses the problems with
immigration reform, I will sign it and it supercedes whatever actions I
take.”
Republican
Rep. Cory Gardner, just elected to the Senate from Colorado, said he
hopes that Mr. Obama holds off on immigration, but declined to say what
consequences would result if he goes
ahead with executive action.
His
response highlights the political peril of the issue for Republicans
concerned about the growing Hispanic vote. Opposing Mr. Obama’s action
without putting forth one of their own might
cause problems for the GOP.
“I
think the president will do the right thing when it comes to
immigration reform,” Mr. Gardner said on ABC’s “This Week.” “And that is
working with the House and the Senate instead of going
around the House and the Senate.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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