(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) Congressional Republicans looking to use the “power of the purse” to narrowly target President Obama’s unilateral legalization of 4.1 million undocumented immigrants are going to have to find another way.
Under current law, funds to finance the president’s executive action are covered by user fees paid directly to immigration agencies and are not appropriated by Congress. So even if House and Senate Republicans withhold funds from the Homeland Security Department, which oversees immigration services and border enforcement, Obama’s move to grant temporary legal status and work permits to qualified illegal immigrants would continue apace.
Many Republicans, particularly conservatives who affiliate with the Tea Party, are skeptical of this claim, delivered like a bombshell late last week by House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky. His argument that defunding Homeland Security was insufficient to stop Obama was viewed as a possible ruse to convince rank-and-file Republicans to support an omnibus spending bill to fund the government through next October.
