The Patriot Post® · House Republicans Can Stop Obama's Amnesty Agenda

With already dismal approval ratings, this has been the most difficult month for President Barack Obama yet. After voters from coast to coast soundly rejected Obama-supporting Democrats on Election Day, video was leaked of left-wing economist Jonathan Gruber – the chief architect of Obamacare – admitting that the sweeping health care bill became law because Americans are “stupid.”

As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, a source leaked to Fox News copies of Obama’s unconstitutional 10-point plan to grant amnesty to 4.5 million illegal immigrants through executive order, which is supposed to be announced this week. After reading just what he has in mind, it’s clear Gruber isn’t the only one who thinks we’re stupid.

In the plan, Obama is prepared use executive orders to stop the deportation of illegals through what’s known as “deferred action.” This plan would prevent illegal immigrants who came to America as children – along with their children born in America – from ever facing deportation. In addition, Obama is expected to end the Secure Communities program, which helps facilities information sharing between federal immigration agents and local police when trying to identify illegal immigrants.

Most Americans don’t approve of Obama’s immigration policies and his “the President-is-King"approach. They, particularly middle class voters, are deeply concerned about the impact of his policies on jobs, stagnant wages and the rule of law.

Now, it appears that conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have a unique opportunity to stop Obama’s amnesty agenda dead in its tracks. Because Congress is going to need the passage of a short-term spending bill soon to fund government through the next fiscal year, an emboldened Republican majority is ready to use Congress’ power of the purse to defund Obama’s amnesty orders, including any renewal funding for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

This movement in the House is lead by conservative Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ), who now has 63-signatures on his letter which would block all funding for Obama’s executive amnesty orders. The letter was forwarded to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-KY) and ranking member Nita Lowey (D-NY), which requests that such anti-funding language be included in "all appropriations legislation prohibiting the use of funds by the administration for the implementation of current or future executive actions that would create additional work permits and green cards outside the scope prescribed by Congress.”

Salmon, who said this effort is gaining an astonishingly large amount of traction thanks to the 2014 election results, is confident House conservatives can be successful. As he explained in a recent interview, this defunding effort "will stop him dead in his tracks if our conference decides to put on the spending bill that the president has to have by the end of the year that no money in that spending bill can go for these purposes, for this executive amnesty. If he does that, he’s in direct violation of the law.“

Unfortunately, Obama doesn’t seem to understand just how bad the elections were for his radical agenda. Instead of waiting for the new Congress to start and making his arguments, he is gearing up to impose his pro-amnesty agenda on the American people in ways that would shock our Founding Fathers. With only two years left in his term, he is ready to appease his left-wing base and politically tear the country apart, while forcing local communities to deal with the extreme costs and safety risks of illegal immigration.

It is time to urge the Republican leadership to understand just why 74% of Americans want Obama to work with Congress on immigration instead of going around them. Republicans must stop Obama’s lawless amnesty agenda now.