Rep. Aaron Schock, Illinois Republican, said that while he actually agrees with a lot of what President Obama said in his immigration speech, it doesn’t justify the president’s taking executive action when he should have come to Congress on the issue.
“What was aggravating is I agree with a lot of what he said, but it doesn’t justify … his action,” Mr. Schock said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “The reality is that he’s not just dealing with people who are here illegally — his executive action attempts to do legislatively what he wants Congress to do and that is circumventing the legislative powers and separation of powers of our Congress.”
Indeed, White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said earlier on the program that if Mr. Obama were a king or emperor, he would have unilaterally implement a Senate-passed immigration bill that provides an eventual pathway to citizenship for the approximately 11 million people in the country illegally.
Instead, Mr. Obama outlined a plan whereby illegal immigrants who have been in the country for at least five years can pay taxes and pass a background check in order win temporary legal status, among other provisions.
“He talks about a visa program for people that are in college that he wants to keep, he talks about border security, additional border security, so this isn’t just another Clinton-Reagan-Bush-esque type of executive order. This is very sweeping,” Mr. Schock said. “And so what was aggravating from my standpoint was Mr. President, if you really want to do those step-by-step issues you just outlined, then come work with Congress.”
Mr. Schock said he is tired of hearing about how Republicans are obstructionists when the GOP-led House has passed nearly 400 bipartisan bills that the Senate’s refused to take up.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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