President Obama is completely unfazed by Republican claims that they will impeach him if he issues his executive orders on immigration. The president responded to the threat by telling Republicans that he is going to use his power.
Some House Republicans like Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) are calling for impeachment if Obama acts alone on immigration.
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Rep. Barton said, “Well impeachment is indicting in the House and that’s a possibility, but you still have to convict in the Senate and that takes a two-thirds vote. But impeachment would be a consideration, yes sir.”
Speaker of the House John Boehner has hinted about serious consequences for Obama if he acts on immigration, “I believe that if the president continues to act on his own he is going to poison the well. When you play with matches, you take the risk of burning yourself, and he is going to burn himself if he continues to go down this path. The American people made it clear Election Day. They want to get things done, and they don’t want the president acting on a unilateral basis.”
The president responded at a press conference today by letting Republicans know that he plans to use his executive powers,
There has been ample opportunity for Congress to pass a bipartisan immigration bill that would strengthen our borders, improve the legal immigration system, lift millions of people out of the shadows so they are paying taxes and getting right by the law. It passed out of the Senate. I gave the House over a year to go ahead and at least give a vote to the Senate bilaterally; they failed to do so. And I indicated to Speaker Boehner several months ago that if, in fact, Congress failed to act, I would use all the lawful authority that I possess to try to make the system work better. And that’s going to happen. That’s going to happen before the end of the year.
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So they have the ability to fix the system. What they don’t have the ability to do is to expect me to stand by with a broken system in perpetuity. And I would advise that if, in fact, they want to take a different approach, rather than devote a lot of time trying to constrain my lawful actions as the Chief Executive of the U.S. government in charge of our enforcing our immigration laws, that they spend some time passing a bill and engaging with all the stakeholders, the immigrant rights groups, the law enforcement groups, the evangelicals, the business community, all of whom have said this is something that needs to be done, is way overdue. And we’ve been talking about it for 10 years now, and it’s been consistently stalled.
Republicans can threaten this president all that they want, but he is still going to do what he thinks is best for the country. Fox News and other conservative media outlets are already whipping up an impeachment frenzy even though Obama hasn’t done anything yet. The confrontation over immigration is going to set the stage for the next two years.
Obama isn’t going to back down. He isn’t going to give in to Republican threats. Everyone knows that congressional Republican leaders wouldn’t be foolish enough to impeach the president two years before a presidential election. The problem isn’t the leadership. It is that there is a groundswell on the right that is demanding impeachment. These calls will only grow louder after the president takes his executive action on immigration.
John Boehner could put the brakes on all of this political drama by allowing the House to vote on the Senate passed immigration reform bill. Since Boehner won’t allow a vote, and House Republicans refuse to pass their own bill, the only option left is for Obama to act alone. As the president has repeatedly stated, nothing is stopping the Republican controlled Congress from wiping out his executive actions by passing an immigration bill in January.
Obama is daring Republicans to destroy their party by pursuing impeachment. Republicans are now on the hook for their obstruction. The chickens have come home to roost, and they are now they are facing the consequences of their years of just saying no to President Obama.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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