Politicsborder crisisPoliticsTom Cole

GOP Admits It's Hypocritical To Sue Obama Yet Urge Him To Act Alone On Border Crisis

GOP Admits It's Hypocritical To Sue Obama Yet Urge Him To Act Alone On Border Crisis
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Senior Politics Reporter, HuffPost

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A pair of House Republicans admitted on Friday that it made little sense to sue President Barack Obama over executive overreach and, at the same time, urge him to act without Congress to solve the border crisis.

"Look, you can't say on the one hand that the president is overreaching by acting without legislative authority and direction and then refuse to give him legislative authority and direction in another area," Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a frequent voice of moderation in the House GOP conference, said on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown."

In a stunning defeat on Thursday, House leadership scrapped a scheduled vote on a border bill after a last-minute revolt by conservative members. The conference is meeting again Friday morning to discuss retooled legislation, delaying the planned August recess. In a statement explaining the postponement, House GOP leaders placed the onus on the White House to act without congressional authority.

"There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries," they said in a joint statement.

But that rationale raised eyebrows across Washington after House Republicans voted the day prior to authorize House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to sue the president for acting without Congress in delaying enforcement of the health care law they oppose.

Cole, an ally of Boehner, conceded as much on Friday.

"We've got a good bill that actually addresses the problem, a problem the president has identified but refused to produce a solution to, provides an adequate amount of money to get us to the end of the year," he said. "We'll give him additional resources next year. But the first thing is to actually pass legislation across the House floor. So I'll tell you that's what we're going to do today. I'm not going to point a lot of fingers at the president until we get our own job done."

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) echoed Cole's remarks on MSNBC, promising Republicans were not leaving town until they vote on some sort of legislation to address the influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the border.

"We can't go home until we pass a bill. That's why we're staying here, that's why we're going to get the job done," he said.

Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer lambasted House Republicans for the "ridiculous" move on Thursday night.

"It is ridiculous to sue the president on a Wednesday because he oversteps the law, as he has done a dozen times illegally and unconstitutionally," the conservative commentator said on Fox, "and then on a Thursday say that he should overstep the law, contradict the law that passed in 2008 and deal with this himself."

Boehner appeared to acknowledge the matter on Friday, when he tweeted that, "Every president issues executive orders & takes action where he can. Most of them, though, do so within the law."

That prompted a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to tweet back, "This is officially a hot mess."

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Before You Go

11 Ways Immigration Reform Helps The Economy
Reform Would Help Curb The Deficit(01 of11)
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Immigration reform would reduce the federal deficit by $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years, according to an April analysis by the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. (credit:Getty Images)
Expelling Immigrants Is Expensive(02 of11)
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Expelling the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States would cost $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years, according to CNBC. That's because it costs the government more than $8,000 to deport each person. (credit:Getty Images)
Reform Would Help Fix The Social Security Problem(03 of11)
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Immigration reform would help bolster Social Security because more legal workers would mean more people contributing payroll taxes to its trust fund, according to an analysis from the Social Security administration. Undocumented workers already contribute $15 billion per year to Social Security. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Start Successful Businesses(04 of11)
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More than a quarter of technology and engineering firms started between 1995 and 2005 had a foreign-born owner, according to the Washington Post. One of the founders of Yahoo!, Jerry Yang, is an immigrant from Taiwan. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Save $410 Billion Over The Next 10 Years(05 of11)
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The immigration reform bill proposed by the "gang of eight" senators would save $410 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis from Gordon Gray, the director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. The savings would come largely from a boost in GDP resulting from undocumented immigrants gaining citizenship and in turn likely making more money. (credit:AP)
High-Tech Companies Say Reform Would Boost Their Bottom Line(06 of11)
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Companies like Microsoft and Google have said that immigration reform would help them by allowing for more H1B visas, a special kind of visa geared toward highly-skilled immigrants. The tech giants say they can't find enough qualified people in the U.S. to fill their staffing needs. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Boost The Wages Of Native-Born Workers(07 of11)
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U.S.-born workers see between a 0.1 and 0.6 percent boost in wages on average with an increase in immigration, according to a January report from the Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative of the nonpartisan Brookings Institution. That's because immigrant workers bring skills with them that complement those of native-born workers, leading to new jobs. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Are Entrepreneurial (08 of11)
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Immigrants are more than twice as likely than native-born Americans to start new businesses, according to a White House report on immigration reform. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Boost GDP By More Than $1 Trillion Over 10 Years(09 of11)
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Immigration reform would boost GDP by $1.5 trillion -- or about 1 percent -- over 10 years, according to an estimate from UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda cited by CNBC. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Create Jobs(10 of11)
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Businesses owned by immigrants created 4.7 million jobs in the U.S. in 2007, according to a White House report on immigration reform. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Bring In More Money Than It Costs In Benefits(11 of11)
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Though many critics of immigration reform argue against the cost of providing increased public benefits, analysts say higher spending is not a likely consequence. A Congressional Budget Analysis of George W. Bush's 2007 immigration reform proposal found that it would cost the government $23 billion in more public services, but bring in $48 billion in revenue, according to the Washington Post. (credit:Getty Images)
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