In 2014, politicians made a lot of promises on illegal immigration. It was an election year, so that makes sense.
In 2015, these same politicians are now in office and have to deliver on their campaign rhetoric. Many politicians have been less than helpful when it comes to living up to the promises made during the heat of a campaign.
“We’ve got an appropriations process that’s under control here where we have the ability to limit their use of funds to try to bring this administration to heel.” -Speaker John Boehner | Laura Ingraham Show
“We will use the power of the purse to push back against this overactive bureaucracy.” Senator Mitch McConnell |Post-election press conference
“To ask us to do nothing is unfair and unreasonable, to expect us to be mature is reasonable. A lawsuit is part of it, but we do have the power of the purse. I don’t mind targeted approaches to defund the executive order.” Senator Lindsey Graham | Huffingtonpost
“The President’s attempts to grant amnesty through executive order will be the first battleground where this new Majority can stand up to this President and block his actions. I support Senator Sessions’ efforts to cut off funding for executive amnesty to protect the rule of law in America.” Senator Pat Roberts | Press Release
“Additionally, the new Congress should exercise the power of the purse by passing individual appropriations bills authorizing critical functions of government and attaching riders to strip the authority from the president to grant amnesty.” Senator Ted Cruz | Politico
“As President Obama has previously said, he is not ‘a king’ or ‘the emperor of the United States,’ and he isn’t legally able to unilaterally change immigration law any way he sees fit. Congress has a responsibility to respond and push back on his illegal power-grab. Congress must be creative in using all the tools in our toolbox – including mounting a legal challenge – to oppose the President’s action.” – Sen. John McCain | Press Release
“There are things we can do together to fix legal immigration but it’s not what this president wants. There’s a lot of different things we can do in terms of power of the purse we can do that in terms of appropriations. There are legal channels we can pursue. We have to be careful not to take the bait here…” Rep. Jason Chaffetz | On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren (minute marker 2:15)
Strong words from many of the most important leaders in the 114th Congress. But, as the site shows, of these leaders, only Sen. Ted Cruz actually voted to strip President Obama of the funding he needed to enforce his illegal executive order for amnesty. All the others helped pass the funding bill which is currently being used by the President to add thousands of government employees whose sole job is to process amnesty for illegals as fast as possible.
Republican politicians talked a good game in 2014. Now, it’s time to hold their feet to the fire and make them honor their word in 2015. So far, it’s not off to a good start.
For links to these quotes visit the website Conservative Review which has collected these various statements and promises made by members of Congress regarding their position on amnesty for illegal aliens.
