Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) was forced to cancel the vote on his border legislation after he didn’t have enough votes to pass it. Boehner then issued a press release demanding that Obama act alone to secure the border.
Roll Call reported, “We don’t think we have the votes,” said Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, one of the architects of the bill. But she said the whip count was “very close” with about 214 supporters, including Democrats. “There are people who just don’t want to do anything,” she said. “They don’t want to spend the money.”
After being forced to pull their own bill, House Republican leaders issued a statement that was full of the sort of crazy-making that the nation has come to expect from the GOP.
The statement told the president that the House is useless, so the president needs to act alone on the border crisis, “This situation shows the intense concern within our conference – and among the American people – about the need to ensure the security of our borders and the president’s refusal to faithfully execute our laws. There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries. For the past month, the House has been engaged in intensive efforts to pass legislation that would compel the president to do his job and ensure it can be done as quickly and compassionately as possible. Through an inclusive process, a border bill was built by listening to members and the American people that has the support not just of a majority of the majority in the House, but most of the House Republican Conference. We will continue to work on solutions to the border crisis and other challenges facing our country.”
So, it is not okay for Obama to take executive action unless the House is paralyzed by Republican infighting? Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans can’t have it both ways. They can’t claim that President Obama is a tyrant, and then tell him to act without them.
On an issue as important as the humanitarian crisis on the border, the House of Representatives must weigh in. Boehner has to realize that his own inability do the most basic part of his job is not going to help his lawsuit.
Laughably, the neutered House Republican leadership is demanding that President Obama stop the flow of children over the border by just telling them to stop coming. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), who is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said, “It’s stopping the inflow. He can do that just by his word, to announce that the policies he’s had in the past are rescinded and he’s not going to let these people in. Be more forceful; I don’t think it’s a matter of money, it’s a matter of sending the message out there.”
Rogers also said that Obama should use his power responsibly to stop the crisis. Thus confirming that Republicans only think that President Obama is a tyrant when he is doing something that they disagree with.
The next time someone in the media laments that both sides do it, and Washington is broken, remember this moment. Both sides don’t do it, and Washington isn’t broken. The Republican Party has broken Washington because their constant infighting has made it impossible for the House Republicans to accomplish anything.
It isn’t President Obama’s fault that John Boehner has let the lunatics run the asylum.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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