What the President has done is unprecedented, unconstitutional, and an affront to the American people. In addition to poisoning the well and making it almost impossible to work together on other issues, the President’s actions have created a constitutional crisis that our Founding Fathers had hoped to avoid. Presidents cannot make law on their own. Regardless of how one feels about this issue or any other, I would hope that we could all come together and agree that the precedent set by this President is dangerous. My oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States is clear. It requires me to use every power at my disposal to make sure this type of action is stopped, condemned, and prevented from ever happening again. One of the most important and effective ways Congress can stop this is by blocking funding. Federalist 58 states, ‘This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.’ It is the prerogative of Congress to deny funding to Executive proposals in which they believe are unconstitutional or damaging to the country. Presidents have frequently signed legislation that contained such funding restrictions. Democrats such as Senator Carl Levin of Michigan have reaffirmed that restricting funding is a proper role of the legislative branch by stating it ‘(is) not bringing down the government. (It’s) a fairly traditional, targeted approach to make a policy point.’ The President’s actions seem to have more to do with politics than policy. The President’s not considering the fact that he’s hurting Americans from all walks of life who are still struggling to find jobs. The President does not seem to care that this action will make our immigration system worse by incentivizing others to come here illegally. I expect the President will threaten to veto any attempt from Congress to stop this unilateral action, and then blame Congress for acting ‘irresponsibly’ if the result in more gridlock. If the President wanted to fix our broken immigration system, he could start by securing the border and enforcing the laws already passed by Congress. But make no mistake, what the President is doing will make our immigration system worse. Congress has not only the right but the responsibility to stop this executive action. The President decided to act unilaterally on this issue and is solely responsible for the conflict that will certainly arise. We need a Commander-in Chief, not a Campaigner-in-Chief. We need a leader who puts the health and well-being of the country ahead of 2016 politics. This is a sad day for the nation, and I intend to use all of my constitutional authority to put a stop to the President’s illegal behavior.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 01:37:34 +0000
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