Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said he doesn’t care what President Obama says on immigration — his track record shows he talks a big talk, but hardly follows it through with walk.
Mr. Priebus made the remarks on CNN in response to Mr. Obama’s comments at a press conference when he said he would like Congress to take action on immigration but that he’s “not going to just wait” on Republicans. That’s a shaky vow, Mr. Priebus said, The Hill reported.
“I don’t believe a thing he says,” Mr. Priebus said, The Hill reported. “So he’s been talking about immigration reform for seven years, so you’re using his words as if they actually mean something, and ask[ing] me to respond to it. He’s been talking about this when he had 60 votes in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi in the House, and they didn’t do a darn thing.”
Mr. Priebus then said the president’s track record for truthfulness on the immigration issue wasn’t all that stellar.
“All he’s been doing for the last year is lying to Hispanic voters across the country,” he said, referring to Mr. Obama’s promise to act on immigration before summer’s end and his later decision to hold off action until after the elections, The Hill reported.
And now — with Republican majorities in the Senate and the House — isn’t really the best time for the president to tell the American people that a compromise measure is in the works, Mr. Priebus said.
“After the American people repudiated the policies of Barack Obama and everyone that was connected to him, to now say, ’Well, what are you guys going to do to compromise with the person the American people had just repudiated?’ I think it’s a little bizarre,” he said, The Hill reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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