New speaker, same immigration clash with President Obama.
The White House criticized Speaker Paul Ryan Monday for making a “preposterous” claim that Mr. Obama can’t be trusted on immigration reform.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it was “particularly ironic” for the Wisconsin Republican to call into question the president’s trustworthiness, when he said Mr. Ryan had a hand in blocking an immigration reform bill in 2013.
“Speaker Ryan himself was instrumental in putting together the agreement and blocking its consideration even though he knew it would have passed,” Mr. Earnest said.
On Sunday, Mr. Ryan said on the CBS program “Face the Nation” that he has no intention of working with Mr. Obama on immigration reform after the president issued sweeping executive actions on deportation amnesty last year.
“I think it would be a ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a president we simply cannot trust on this issue,” Mr. Ryan said. “He tried to go it alone, circumventing the legislative process with his executive orders, so that is not in the cards.”
When reporters pointed out to Mr. Earnest that the speaker was referring to the president’s executive actions, not legislation, the White House spokesman replied, “He’s welcome to disagree with that. But it’s hard for him to make the claim the president hasn’t acted in good faith on immigration when Speaker Ryan actively thwarted a compromise he himself helped to broker.
“For him to come back and claim it’s somebody else’s fault? It’s preposterous,” Mr. Earnest said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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