John Boehner gears up to shut GOP immigration dissenters down

House Speaker John Boehner has joined forces with key Republican leaders to shut down any GOP members who might want to strong-arm President Obama over immigration.

Some in Congress on the Republican side would rather see a government shutdown than a White House with carte blanche to enact significant amnesty provisions via executive order, the New York Times reported.

But Mr. Boehner said any strategy to defund the president’s plans for immigration and amnesty isn’t the way to go, and would surely result in shutdown, the Times reported.

He’s telling rank-and-file Republicans that the GOP — not the Democrats — would take the greater political hit from a shutdown, a message that is resonating with many within the party.

“Shutting down the entire government over something never did make sense to the American people — still doesn’t and won’t in the future,” Sen. Richard Burr, a member of Mr. Boehner’s inner circle, told the Times.

Dec. 11 is the deadline to approve funding for the government.

Mr. Boehner, who’s expected to be elected to his third term in the House leadership slot, promised during a Nov. 13 gathering of Republicans to fight “tooth and nail” against the president and encroaching executive orders, those at the meeting said, the Times reported.

At the same time, he cautioned for the need for strategy — that the entire GOP needed to unite and rally over core ideas, and stop political infighting.

“He’s never wanted to just be speaker,” said Rep. Tom Cole, a close political ally of Mr. Boehner’s, the New York Times reported. “He’s wanted to be a historically significant speaker.”