NEW YORK – A Republican congressman is warning that the Obama White House has outsmarted House Speaker John Boehner by ensuring it can fund the president’s executive action-implemented amnesty for the parents of illegal-alien children with or without congressional approval.
“In 2012, the GOP lost the presidency because millions of conservatives stayed home, uninspired by the GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney,” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told WND.
“Now we risk millions leaving the party if the GOP does not step up on principle.”
King pointed out that Obama is proceeding to implement his executive immigration actions by utilizing fees generated by the Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS. The fees come from the processing of applications under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA.
“We could have fought Obama on amnesty by passing month-to-month continuing resolutions to fund the government and demanding concessions every step of the way to keep the government funded,” King pointed out. “But by passing the ‘Cromnibus’ and funding the Department of Homeland Security through February, Boehner and the House allowed Obama to get in place the administrative structure needed to issue his deferred prosecution orders and work permits to the DREAMer parents.”
King charged that Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are set to “conspire against conservatives once again” in their willingness to continue funding Obamacare and executive amnesty to avoid a government shutdown.
Already, to fulfill Obama’s immigration actions, the administration has taken steps to lease space in a newly constructed office building in Crystal City, near Arlington, Virginia, at a cost of $7.8 million annually. The building will provide space for some 1,000 full-time federal and contract employees in a variety of positions and grade levels, with jobs offering salaries as high as $157,000 a year and a total salary cost of $40 million per year.
“How can I in good conscience vote to ratify Boehner as House speaker when I know the guy is working to undermine the conservative principles I promised voters I was returning to Washington to establish?” King asked.
King rejected the narrative presented by the GOP establishment that voters want the party to work with the Obama administration in “getting something done” in Washington.
“It should be clear that in the midterm elections the most effective GOP advertising done was in opposition to Obamacare and to blocking Obama’s amnesty by executive action,” King said.
“What Boehner did at the end of the last congressional session was to fully fund Obamacare without a legitimate debate on the issues, and fund amnesty until February 27, taking away our tools to be able to leverage anything against Obama on amnesty.”
King stressed that Boehner has no plans to oppose Obama’s use of fees generated by USCIS to fund the implementation of his executive-action amnesty program.
“Even when we did shut down the government, I learned the USCIS continued to pump out the DACA permits … that built the fees the USCIS is using now to implement Obamacare,” King noted.
“Now, if we did shut down the government, the USCIS would continue to fund the implementation of amnesty, while the Obama administration would hold back the paychecks of the Border Patrol and other government officials providing security on the border,” he continued. “The USCIS is fee-for-service, so USCIS worked through the shutdown, and the USCIS officials all got paid on time.”
King stressed that Boehner had no plan in place that would block Obama from continuing to implement amnesty through USCIS.
“Let’s play this out,” he said. “The USCIS is prepared to turn out a lot of permits in a short period of time. Now, even if we pass an appropriations bill to fund DHS after February 27 and we put a provision in the bill that DHS is prohibited from spending to implement amnesty, Obama would just veto the bill. With no continued funding, Obama would have USCIS continue to issue amnesty permits on a fee-for-service basis, while instructing the Border Patrol to go out and do their jobs without a paycheck.”
King emphasized Obama has once again outsmarted Boehner, because it’s unlikely Boehner and McConnell would halt DHS appropriations to force Obama to stop implementing his executive action.
