Democrats flip-flop to save Obama's amnesty

WASHINGTON – Democrats aren’t letting their own words get in the way of voting the party line in the showdown over defunding President Obama’s amnesty.

Eight Democrat senators and one independent, all of whom criticized Obama’s executive action to grant amnesty to five million illegal immigrants, have nonetheless voted to block legislation that would defund the amnesty while keeping the rest of the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, fully funded.

WND contacted each one of those senators, quoted their own words criticizing the executive action granting amnesty and then asked two questions:

• Why won’t you now vote to defund the president’s executive action while keeping DHS fully funded?

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• Would you kindly explain how this is not choosing party politics over protecting the constitutional separation of powers?

Not one senator responded or provided any explanation for the flip-flop.

Sixty votes are needed for the legislation to proceed to a simple majority vote in the Senate and bypass any filibuster by Democrats.

There are 54 Republicans in the Senate, one of whom voted against the bill. So, if just seven of the nine Democrats and independent stick to their anti-amnesty guns and switch their votes, the legislation would go to the president’s desk.

Why did those senators flip-flop on amnesty when push came to shove?

One Senate Democrat aide said, "I think it's about making clear really early that we're not going to play along with any of these games."

But the real reason appears to be pure politics.

Comments by Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, suggest Democrats believe obstruction of the bill will pay off because the GOP will get the blame for the bill’s failure.

"History would tell us that Republicans would get more blame,” said Cuellar, referring to the 2013 government shutdown over Obamacare. "It's a replay of the same movie."

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas

That could indicate there has been arm-twisting behind the scenes by Democratic Party leadership to keep senators who have criticized amnesty from voting to defund it.

To counter that, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced he will switch tactics in an effort to flush out those senators.

He now intends to bring a bill to the floor that would specifically block funding for the executive amnesty. Another bill fully funding the DHS could then be moved forward separately.

GOP Senate leaders hope that Democrats who opposed Obama’s executive amnesty would then be put on the spot if they did not vote for the bill to defund it.

However, vigorous amnesty opponents such as Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are strongly opposed to that strategy, with the Texan calling it "a mistake."

"Congress is obliged to use every constitutional check and balance we have to rein in President Obama's lawlessness, and that includes both our confirmation authority over nominees and the power of the purse," said Cruz.

And Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., suggested GOP senators were no longer objecting to funding the executive actions.

"A federal court in Texas has halted Pres. Obama's lawless power grab, but many Senators want to fund it anyway," Paul tweeted.

Conservatives in the Senate and the House believe McConnell's plan plainly won't work because the president could simply sign a "clean" bill funding the DHS and veto a separate bill defunding his amnesty, even if both bills were to pass in Congress.

"If you send it to us in two vehicles, then you have people saying, 'Well, the president’s going to veto one and then sign the other, and then we have nothing to hold over this president’s head,'" said a House Republican close to leadership.

"What McConnell has isn’t a plan but a cop out," said Tristan Daedalus, a spokesman for Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz.

"The whole point of restricting funds from being used for unconstitutional orders inside the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security is to exercise the power of the purse. By divorcing these two pieces of the bill, the Majority Leader is showing that he is more concerned with acquiescing to the ridiculous demands of the Democratic Caucus than for standing up for the institution of Congress."

Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, suggested freshman GOP senators failed to deliver on campaign promises.

"If I was a donor to some of these senators that just won election and was told things would be different in a new Senate, I'd be pretty pissed. We put Harry Reid back in charge of the Senate again?" Huelskamp told The Hill.

Huelskamp said that separating the bill freezing the executive actions from a must-pass DHS funding bill eliminates Republicans' leverage over Democrats.

"It's stupid. It doesn't go anywhere. He knows that," Huelskamp said of McConnell's proposal. "Does he take us all for a fool that somehow that's going to solve the problem that he was going to fight tooth and nail against?"

Here’s what those Democrats and the independent who criticized amnesty said before refusing to vote to defund it:

• Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.: "It is clear the immigration system in this country is broken, and only Congress has the ability to change the law to fix it. ... I am as frustrated as anyone that Congress is not doing its job, but the president shouldn’t make such significant policy changes on his own."

• Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.: "I have concerns about executive action. ... This is a job for Congress."

• Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.: "I’m disappointed the president decided to use executive action at this time on this issue, as it could poison any hope of compromise or bipartisanship in the new Senate before it has even started. It's Congress' job to pass legislation and deal with issues of this magnitude."

• Sen. Angus King, I-Maine: "I worry that his taking unilateral action could in fact inflame public opinion, change the subject from immigration to the president. I also have constitutional concerns about where prosecutorial discretion ends and unconstitutional executive authority begins."

• Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V.: "I disagree with the president’s decision to use executive action to make changes to our immigration system."

• Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.: "Our immigration system is broken, and I support a comprehensive plan to fix it, but executive orders aren’t the way to do it."

• Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.: "Immigration reform is a national challenge that requires a long-term, comprehensive solution by Congress."

• Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.: "I would prefer that Congress act."

• Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.: "A big issue like immigration, the best way to get a comprehensive solution is to take this through the legislative process."

Before McConnell announced he would offer separate legislation, Sens. Heitkamp, King, Manchin and McCaskill all vowed to stick with party leadership and oppose any DHS funding bill that would defund amnesty.

"Democrat after Democrat goes to the Senate floor to give speeches about how important the Department of Homeland Security is, and yet they don't seem to be struck by the irony that it is Democrats who are preventing the Senate from taking up funding for DHS at a time when global threats are only growing," Cruz told National Journal last week.

"It is both reckless and irresponsible," he added.

President Obama will meet with immigration activists on Wednesday "to provide an update on the administration’s immigration accountability executive actions," the White House said.

He will also travel to Miami to participate in a town hall on the topic hosted by Telemundo and MSNBC.

Follow Garth Kant @DCgarth