Politico
By Seung Min Kim
June 3, 2015
House Republicans just went after President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration – again.
The
GOP-led chamber voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department from
being able to defend itself in a legal battle that has put Obama’s
sweeping and controversial
immigration actions on hold. The measure, written by conservative
immigration firebrand Rep. Steve King of Iowa, was an amendment to the
overall funding bill for DOJ.
As
he spoke about his measure, King noted that the House has voted
multiple times to restrain Obama’s legal authority on immigration and
dismissed the actions as “unconstitutional
executive amnesty.” Obama’s directive was the epicenter of a battle
over Homeland Security, pushing the department’s funding to the brink
before Republicans capitulated on their demands to defund Obama’s
actions.
“A
lot of money has been spent and wasted in an attempt to … the gracious
way to say it would be, to stretch the Constitution beyond any bounds
that it had been stretched
before,” King said on the House floor Wednesday as he defended his
amendment.
As
Wednesday’s vote showed, there is still some appetite from GOP
lawmakers to fight Obama on the executive actions, although many
Republicans would prefer the battle
to play out in the courts. U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen in
February blocked Obama’s actions, which would protect more than 4
million immigrants here illegally — based on family ties and how long
they’ve been in the United States -- from deportations
and grant them work permits.
The
Obama administration appealed that decision to the Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals, and also asked that court for an emergency stay of Hanen’s
decision. The Fifth Circuit
denied the administration’s request last month — keeping the executive
actions on hold — and the Justice Department decided not to seek a stay
at the Supreme Court.
Oral arguments at the Fifth Circuit in the underlying legal case are set for July 10.
Nineteen
House Republicans sided with Democrats to reject King’s measure — a mix
of GOP lawmakers who tend to come from moderate and Latino-heavy
districts and who’ve
repeatedly voted against measures from their party trying to override
Obama’s actions.
The
Republicans were: Mike Coffman of Colorado, Carlos Curbelo of Florida,
Jeff Denham of California, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Bob Dold of
Illinois, Dan Donovan of
New York, Chris Gibson of New York, Richard Hanna of New York, Joe Heck
of Nevada, Bill Johnson of Ohio, David Jolly of Florida, John Katko of
New York, Peter King of New York, Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, Martha
McSally of Arizona, Devin Nunes of California,
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Elise Stefanik of New York and David
Valadao of California.
The
underlying appropriations bill — which covers the Departments of
Commerce and Justice, as well as NASA and the National Science
Foundation — passed Wednesday evening
on a 242-183 vote.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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