If The GOP Leadership Believes Obama’s Amnesty Is Unconstitutional, Why Can’t They Even CONSIDER Impeaching Him?
The GOP House Leadership finally passed some immigration legislation that would be useful if it were actually designed to be implemented. Unfortunately, it’s simply a show for the rubes—the party Establishment has no intention of serious opposition to President Obama’s unilateral Amnesty/Immigration Surge.
But they have set themselves a trap by inadvertently exposing just how radical and unconstitutional Obama’s actions really are. And as the President moves to retake control of the legislative agenda with the upcoming State of the Union address, the GOP is going to have to give their voters something other than empty rhetoric if they want to have a chance in 2016...
A charitable observer might conclude that the Republicans did they best they could and are simply bowing to political reality. But in fact the Republican Establishment clearly wants the issue to go away. After all, McConnell’s guiding principle for the new Republican Congress is “don’t be scary” and his main policy objective is getting “measured conservative wins, particularly against environmental regulations.”...
This is the kind of beyond-parody battle cry that can only come from the brain trust of Conservatism Inc.
The GOP has options plenty of options even if it can’t muster 60 votes to specifically repeal Obama’s actions and DACA. One is a shutdown. After all, the rationale for the #CROmnibus bill was that the GOP needed to wait until the new Congress convened so that it could use its financial leverage over the Department of Homeland Security to force concessions.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work if the Republicans are completely unwilling to force a shutdown over the issue...
As Daniel Horowitz pointed out... another option would be for Republicans to fully fund “lawful activity at DHS, but not one red cent for violations of statues that never passed Congress.” The Republicans show no signs of doing this either...
Bottom line: the GOP Leadership has maneuvered itself into a trap. As a party, they have made a strong case that Barack Obama superseded his authority. Yet the response thus far is simply sound and fury and the party seems incapable of agreeing on a common approach. And even pushing for greater border security will run smack into the Beltway Right’s desire to quietly legislate amnesty to satisfy the Cheap Labor Lobby.
What’s the solution? Ironically, the easiest response may be the one shunned as the most extreme—impeachment. After all, thanks to Speaker Boehner, the Republican Party’s leadership is now on record that the President of the United States has done nothing less than assault the Constitution. The party has to respond in order to retain any kind of credibility with its own voters.
The GOP may be divided on immigration, but impeachment over Obama’s lawlessness wouldn’t force the Republicans to have to adopt a unified immigration policy. It simply requires an acknowledgement that President Obama has, by his own admission as documented by Speaker Boehner, violated his oath of office.
But what if Republicans do nothing? Well, then we know they aren’t serious about either immigration or the rule of law. And it will be pretty hard to see why we should care if Republicans ever win an election again.
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