Even MSM Reports: Obama Is "Saying, And Doing, More Than" He Claims, "Obama’s Action Is...Already Raising Serious Legal And Constitutional Questions"
Today in Washington, D.C. - Nov. 21, 2014
The Senate has adjourned for Thanksgiving recess. It will reconvene on Monday, December 1st, at 2 PM with votes scheduled on two ambassador nominees.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 95-0 to confirm Pamela Pepper to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 96-0 to confirm Brenda Sannes to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York, and 49-46 to confirm Victor Allen Bolden to be United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut.
The Senate confirmed Madeline Cox Arleo to be United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey and Wendy Beetlestone to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by voice vote. Also confirmed by voice vote were ambassadors to Moldova, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Jamaica, Albania, and Slovenia, two judges for the U.S. Tax Court, and Robert Speer to be Assistant Secretary for the Army.
The House has also adjourned for Thanksgiving recess. Yesterday the House passed H.R. 4795 (238-172) — "To promote new manufacturing in the United States by providing for greater transparency and timeliness in obtaining necessary permits, and for other purposes."
Last night President Obama announced his unilateral executive action on immigration including granting social security cards to 5 million illegal aliens in the United States. They will now be able to have driver's licenses and take American jobs away from legals.
In a fact-checking piece about President Obama’s speech last night, the AP points out that the president claimed, “It does not grant citizenship, or the right to stay here permanently, or offer the same benefits that citizens receive - only Congress can do that. All we're saying is we're not going to deport you.”
Actually, the AP writes, “He's saying, and doing, more than that. The changes also will make those covered eligible for work permits, allowing them to be employed in the country legally and compete with citizens and legal residents for better-paying jobs.”
Even The New York Times acknowledges, “Mr. Obama’s action is also a far more extensive reshaping of the nation’s immigration system. ‘The magnitude and the formality of it is arguably unprecedented,’ said Peter J. Spiro, a Temple University law professor. ‘It’s fair to say that we have never seen anything quite like this before in terms of the scale.’ The breadth of Mr. Obama’s decision is already raising serious legal and constitutional questions, fueling Republican charges of imperial overreach and worries among some Democrats of future fallout.”
The Times notes, “[S]ome lawyers critical of Mr. Obama argue that by publicly grouping a large number of undocumented immigrants who are not subject to American law and granting them a special status, the president has gone far beyond the limits of prosecutorial discretion and crossed the line into legislative fiat.
“‘This action certainly looks a lot more like, “I’m changing the rules of the game,” rather than “I’m just choosing not to exercise my discretion,” and that runs counter to Congress’s power to decide what the law is,’ said Shannen W. Coffin, who in the George W. Bush administration was a Justice Department lawyer and then counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney. ‘It’s highly questionable as a constitutional matter.’ As the chief executive, Mr. Coffin added, the president has a duty to enforce the law, and while declining to do so may not be unconstitutional in every case, ‘at some point when you’re doing it en masse, you’re doing something very damaging.’ . . .
“David A. Martin, a University of Virginia law professor who was a counsel at the Department of Homeland Security in 2009 and 2010, said that beyond the question of whether Mr. Obama was staying within the bounds of his power, the bigger problem for the future was one of precedent. Even if his directive is legally defensible, Mr. Martin said, Mr. Obama may be paving the way for future Republican presidents to act similarly to contravene laws that Democrats cherish. ‘It is problematic if presidents can just make major inroads in programs that Congress has enacted and funded,’ he said.”
Michael A. Needham, CEO, Heritage Action for America responded, "Barack Obama has announced a lawless and unconstitutional plan to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. This action purposely bypasses Congress, the elected voice of the American people, and ignores the Constitution. This dispute is between the President and the American people. And hardworking Americans must rise up and demand Congress use its constitutional power of the purse to block amnesty. Congress needs to know that the American people are not on board with the President's agenda and that you want action now."
As House Speaker John Boehner said following the president’s speech last night, “The American people want both parties to focus on solving problems together; they don’t support unilateral action from a president who is more interested in partisan politics than working with the people’s elected representatives. That is not how American democracy works. Not long ago, President Obama said the unilateral action he just announced was ‘not an option’ and claimed he’d already ‘done everything that I can on my own.’ He said it would lead to a ‘surge in more illegal immigration.’ He said he was ‘not a king’ and ‘not the emperor’ and that he was ‘bound by the Constitution.’ He said an action like this would exceed his authority and be ‘difficult to justify legally.’ He may have changed his position, but that doesn’t change the Constitution.”
The Washington Times noted today that Speaker Boehner obviously has had enough with the lawlessness of the Obama administration. The Speaker "filed a long-awaited lawsuit Friday that alleges President Obama took unlawful steps to delay part of his health care law and is paying out funds to insurers without congressional approval. The Republican-led lawsuit has arrived more than three months after the House authorized Mr. Boehner to sue, and after two law firms decided not to take part." . . . “Time after time, the president has chosen to ignore the will of the American people and re-write federal law on his own without a vote of Congress,” Mr. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said. “That’s not the way our system of government was designed to work. If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well. The House has an obligation to stand up for the Constitution, and that is exactly why we are pursuing this course of action.”
Other news reports explain that the president’s claims that he needed to act now also ring hollow. The AP fact check states, “He overlooked the fact that he promised as a candidate for president in 2008 to have an immigration bill during his first year in office and move forward on it quickly. He never kept that promise . . . .”
Another AP story notes, “To those who argue the actions are long overdue or don't go far enough, Obama pins the blame solely on Republicans who oppose broader legislation. But Obama himself has contributed to the delays, making political calculations that left legislative efforts languishing throughout his first term and paused the promise of executive action in his second.”
Indeed, the president first pledged to take his controversial actions early in the summer, but delayed it repeatedly for political reasons. As the AP writes, “Less than three months later, the president announced he was delaying unilateral measures until after the midterm elections. The move came in response to requests from nervous Democrats who feared the controversial actions could upend their chances of keeping control of the Senate.”
And of course, the AP reminds readers, “As a presidential candidate, Obama told supporters he would ‘guarantee’ an immigration bill within his first year in office. Yet his entire first term slipped by without a real effort to seek legislation. . . . [T]he president pursued health care legislation before losing the Democratic control of Congress that would have given him his best opportunity to pass an immigration bill.”
Meanwhile, Politico reports that the Obama administration’s focus on this executive action has taken up much of the time of the leaders of the Department of Homeland Security. “Nine months ago, the new Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, received a request from the White House. President Obama wanted him to personally take on perhaps the administration’s toughest political assignment: looking for creative ways to fix America’s immigration system without congressional action—or executive overreach.
“Just four months into the job, Johnson had been prepared to take on tough security issues: Bombs on planes. Deadly diseases. Radical Islamists carrying U.S. passports. As the Pentagon’s chief counsel, Johnson had routinely dealt with contentious national security matters, finding himself in the midst of sensitive political fights like whether and how to close Guantanamo Bay, allowing gays in the military, and the rapid expansion of America’s killer drone program.
“He wasn’t prepared for a crisis of purely political making. . . .
“It was a consuming task: in all, sources said, the immigration issue ate up fully half of the Homeland Security secretary’s time in recent months, with Johnson — a high-powered corporate attorney in his previous life — writing the final presidential memorandum himself.
By the time Obama went before the American people to unveil his plan in an Oval Office speech to the nation Thursday night, the White House and DHS had exchanged dozens of drafts and endured months of starts and stops, punctuated by a sharp electoral defeat for their fellow Democrats.”
Nathan Mehrens, President of Americans for Limited Government responded to President Obama's announced illegal alien amnesty plan: ""Last night's pronouncement by President Barack Obama that he will change our nation's immigration laws with the stroke of his pen sets up a profound constitutional crisis. If Obama is allowed to impose changes in law that Congress has specifically rejected, it sets an irreversible precedent that forever changes the separation of powers between the two branches. Congress must immediately return to Washington, D.C., and defund every aspect of the announced amnesty. Acquiescence to this constitutional power grab is not an option."
William Gheen, President, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, said, "Barack Obama has just exceeded his Constitutional authority more than any prior American President. Each item he cites such as paying back taxes and having been in America for more than five years, etc., well, those were all elements of the legislation that the American public and Congress have rejected. Every middle school student in America is taught that our Congress makes laws and the President does not have the power or authority to create laws that have not been approved by the lawmakers who are the product of our elections. Congress must act to curtail Obama immediately and must cast aside the advice of the Republicans who serve as Obama's amnesty facilitators. Obama does not fear that a Republican who supports immigration reform will impeach him for establishing immigration reform by decree!"
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Some people seem to have forgotten this already, but we just had an election. Before that election, the President told us about his plan to act unilaterally on immigration. He reminded us that his policies were on the ballot. And then the people spoke. The President doesn’t have to like the result, but he has a duty to respect it. The American people sent a message. . . .
“What they didn’t say they wanted to see was the President sidestepping the very representatives they just elected. That’s why so many Kentuckians have been calling my office in opposition to this plan. I know phones have continued to ring off the hook all week in other offices across Capitol Hill. Our constituents want to be heard. President Obama needs to listen to their voices.”
Tags: President Obama, Executive Action, illegals, illegal aliens, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Yesterday, the Senate voted 95-0 to confirm Pamela Pepper to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 96-0 to confirm Brenda Sannes to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York, and 49-46 to confirm Victor Allen Bolden to be United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut.
The Senate confirmed Madeline Cox Arleo to be United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey and Wendy Beetlestone to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by voice vote. Also confirmed by voice vote were ambassadors to Moldova, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Jamaica, Albania, and Slovenia, two judges for the U.S. Tax Court, and Robert Speer to be Assistant Secretary for the Army.
The House has also adjourned for Thanksgiving recess. Yesterday the House passed H.R. 4795 (238-172) — "To promote new manufacturing in the United States by providing for greater transparency and timeliness in obtaining necessary permits, and for other purposes."
Last night President Obama announced his unilateral executive action on immigration including granting social security cards to 5 million illegal aliens in the United States. They will now be able to have driver's licenses and take American jobs away from legals.
In a fact-checking piece about President Obama’s speech last night, the AP points out that the president claimed, “It does not grant citizenship, or the right to stay here permanently, or offer the same benefits that citizens receive - only Congress can do that. All we're saying is we're not going to deport you.”
Actually, the AP writes, “He's saying, and doing, more than that. The changes also will make those covered eligible for work permits, allowing them to be employed in the country legally and compete with citizens and legal residents for better-paying jobs.”
Even The New York Times acknowledges, “Mr. Obama’s action is also a far more extensive reshaping of the nation’s immigration system. ‘The magnitude and the formality of it is arguably unprecedented,’ said Peter J. Spiro, a Temple University law professor. ‘It’s fair to say that we have never seen anything quite like this before in terms of the scale.’ The breadth of Mr. Obama’s decision is already raising serious legal and constitutional questions, fueling Republican charges of imperial overreach and worries among some Democrats of future fallout.”
The Times notes, “[S]ome lawyers critical of Mr. Obama argue that by publicly grouping a large number of undocumented immigrants who are not subject to American law and granting them a special status, the president has gone far beyond the limits of prosecutorial discretion and crossed the line into legislative fiat.
“‘This action certainly looks a lot more like, “I’m changing the rules of the game,” rather than “I’m just choosing not to exercise my discretion,” and that runs counter to Congress’s power to decide what the law is,’ said Shannen W. Coffin, who in the George W. Bush administration was a Justice Department lawyer and then counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney. ‘It’s highly questionable as a constitutional matter.’ As the chief executive, Mr. Coffin added, the president has a duty to enforce the law, and while declining to do so may not be unconstitutional in every case, ‘at some point when you’re doing it en masse, you’re doing something very damaging.’ . . .
“David A. Martin, a University of Virginia law professor who was a counsel at the Department of Homeland Security in 2009 and 2010, said that beyond the question of whether Mr. Obama was staying within the bounds of his power, the bigger problem for the future was one of precedent. Even if his directive is legally defensible, Mr. Martin said, Mr. Obama may be paving the way for future Republican presidents to act similarly to contravene laws that Democrats cherish. ‘It is problematic if presidents can just make major inroads in programs that Congress has enacted and funded,’ he said.”
Michael A. Needham, CEO, Heritage Action for America responded, "Barack Obama has announced a lawless and unconstitutional plan to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. This action purposely bypasses Congress, the elected voice of the American people, and ignores the Constitution. This dispute is between the President and the American people. And hardworking Americans must rise up and demand Congress use its constitutional power of the purse to block amnesty. Congress needs to know that the American people are not on board with the President's agenda and that you want action now."
As House Speaker John Boehner said following the president’s speech last night, “The American people want both parties to focus on solving problems together; they don’t support unilateral action from a president who is more interested in partisan politics than working with the people’s elected representatives. That is not how American democracy works. Not long ago, President Obama said the unilateral action he just announced was ‘not an option’ and claimed he’d already ‘done everything that I can on my own.’ He said it would lead to a ‘surge in more illegal immigration.’ He said he was ‘not a king’ and ‘not the emperor’ and that he was ‘bound by the Constitution.’ He said an action like this would exceed his authority and be ‘difficult to justify legally.’ He may have changed his position, but that doesn’t change the Constitution.”
The Washington Times noted today that Speaker Boehner obviously has had enough with the lawlessness of the Obama administration. The Speaker "filed a long-awaited lawsuit Friday that alleges President Obama took unlawful steps to delay part of his health care law and is paying out funds to insurers without congressional approval. The Republican-led lawsuit has arrived more than three months after the House authorized Mr. Boehner to sue, and after two law firms decided not to take part." . . . “Time after time, the president has chosen to ignore the will of the American people and re-write federal law on his own without a vote of Congress,” Mr. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said. “That’s not the way our system of government was designed to work. If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well. The House has an obligation to stand up for the Constitution, and that is exactly why we are pursuing this course of action.”
Other news reports explain that the president’s claims that he needed to act now also ring hollow. The AP fact check states, “He overlooked the fact that he promised as a candidate for president in 2008 to have an immigration bill during his first year in office and move forward on it quickly. He never kept that promise . . . .”
Another AP story notes, “To those who argue the actions are long overdue or don't go far enough, Obama pins the blame solely on Republicans who oppose broader legislation. But Obama himself has contributed to the delays, making political calculations that left legislative efforts languishing throughout his first term and paused the promise of executive action in his second.”
Indeed, the president first pledged to take his controversial actions early in the summer, but delayed it repeatedly for political reasons. As the AP writes, “Less than three months later, the president announced he was delaying unilateral measures until after the midterm elections. The move came in response to requests from nervous Democrats who feared the controversial actions could upend their chances of keeping control of the Senate.”
And of course, the AP reminds readers, “As a presidential candidate, Obama told supporters he would ‘guarantee’ an immigration bill within his first year in office. Yet his entire first term slipped by without a real effort to seek legislation. . . . [T]he president pursued health care legislation before losing the Democratic control of Congress that would have given him his best opportunity to pass an immigration bill.”
Meanwhile, Politico reports that the Obama administration’s focus on this executive action has taken up much of the time of the leaders of the Department of Homeland Security. “Nine months ago, the new Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, received a request from the White House. President Obama wanted him to personally take on perhaps the administration’s toughest political assignment: looking for creative ways to fix America’s immigration system without congressional action—or executive overreach.
“Just four months into the job, Johnson had been prepared to take on tough security issues: Bombs on planes. Deadly diseases. Radical Islamists carrying U.S. passports. As the Pentagon’s chief counsel, Johnson had routinely dealt with contentious national security matters, finding himself in the midst of sensitive political fights like whether and how to close Guantanamo Bay, allowing gays in the military, and the rapid expansion of America’s killer drone program.
“He wasn’t prepared for a crisis of purely political making. . . .
“It was a consuming task: in all, sources said, the immigration issue ate up fully half of the Homeland Security secretary’s time in recent months, with Johnson — a high-powered corporate attorney in his previous life — writing the final presidential memorandum himself.
By the time Obama went before the American people to unveil his plan in an Oval Office speech to the nation Thursday night, the White House and DHS had exchanged dozens of drafts and endured months of starts and stops, punctuated by a sharp electoral defeat for their fellow Democrats.”
Nathan Mehrens, President of Americans for Limited Government responded to President Obama's announced illegal alien amnesty plan: ""Last night's pronouncement by President Barack Obama that he will change our nation's immigration laws with the stroke of his pen sets up a profound constitutional crisis. If Obama is allowed to impose changes in law that Congress has specifically rejected, it sets an irreversible precedent that forever changes the separation of powers between the two branches. Congress must immediately return to Washington, D.C., and defund every aspect of the announced amnesty. Acquiescence to this constitutional power grab is not an option."
William Gheen, President, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, said, "Barack Obama has just exceeded his Constitutional authority more than any prior American President. Each item he cites such as paying back taxes and having been in America for more than five years, etc., well, those were all elements of the legislation that the American public and Congress have rejected. Every middle school student in America is taught that our Congress makes laws and the President does not have the power or authority to create laws that have not been approved by the lawmakers who are the product of our elections. Congress must act to curtail Obama immediately and must cast aside the advice of the Republicans who serve as Obama's amnesty facilitators. Obama does not fear that a Republican who supports immigration reform will impeach him for establishing immigration reform by decree!"
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Some people seem to have forgotten this already, but we just had an election. Before that election, the President told us about his plan to act unilaterally on immigration. He reminded us that his policies were on the ballot. And then the people spoke. The President doesn’t have to like the result, but he has a duty to respect it. The American people sent a message. . . .
“What they didn’t say they wanted to see was the President sidestepping the very representatives they just elected. That’s why so many Kentuckians have been calling my office in opposition to this plan. I know phones have continued to ring off the hook all week in other offices across Capitol Hill. Our constituents want to be heard. President Obama needs to listen to their voices.”
Tags: President Obama, Executive Action, illegals, illegal aliens, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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