New York Times
By Ashley Parker
December 2, 2014
House Republicans on Tuesday emerged from a closed-door meeting determined to avoid a government shutdown.
The
lawmakers began coalescing around a plan that would allow a symbolic
vote to show their frustration with President Obama’s executive action
on immigration, before funding the government
ahead of a Dec. 11 deadline. The proposal, presented by Speaker John A.
Boehner, first calls for House Republicans to vote on a resolution
proposed by Representative Ted Yoho, Republican of Florida, that says
that the president does not have the power to take
the executive action he took last month.
The
resolution, however, would largely be a way for House Republicans to
express their displeasure with the president’s immigration action. Mr.
Yoho said that his measure could be largely
“symbolic” if Senate Democrats do not take up his resolution —
something they are unlikely to do.
A
vote is expected as early as Thursday, said a Republican leadership
aide. Then, House Republicans would vote next week on what has become
known as a “cromnibus” bill to fund the government.
The legislation would fund almost all of the government through
September 2015, but use a short-term measure known as a continuing
resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the agency
primarily responsible for overseeing the administration’s
immigration policy, into early next year.
At
that point, Republicans will control both chambers of Congress, and
they believe that they will have more leverage in negotiations with Mr.
Obama.
A
complicating factor, however, is that the primary agency responsible
for carrying out the president’s executive action is United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is financed
entirely through fees collected from immigration applications and
therefore cannot be defunded in the appropriations process.
Republicans
seemed to acknowledge that there was little they could do to stop the
president, no matter how loudly they protest. Representative Adam
Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, said
that short of going to court — which is still an option that
Republicans are considering — there was not much they could do.
“We are not going to shut down the government again,” he said. “There is no doubt we are in a box, in a tough position here.”
The
vote on the budget will be a major test for Mr. Boehner and his new
leadership team. Some conservatives will most likely vote against it
because they believe it does not go far enough.
The speaker and his allies have been working to ensure that the budget
can pass — a vote that would show he is able to manage and lead the
far-right end of his conference.
Many
of the more conservative House members have been pushing for a more
antagonistic response to the president, like a censure vote. But
Republicans said Tuesday that that would not happen.
“He
just asked that everybody act responsibly,” said Representative John L.
Mica of Florida, describing what the speaker had told his members.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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