House Votes to Defund the President's Executive Amnesty
President Obama’s sweeping action to grant executive amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants with one swipe of his pen flies in the face of our Nation’s constitutional framework. Despite what he may wish, the President does not have the authority to make laws; rather the executive has a duty to faithfully execute the laws passed by Congress. Given the significance of our immigration crisis at hand, and the need to take decisive action to secure our borders and enforce the immigration laws we have on the books, the decision by the President to take unilateral action is even more galling. When the executive branch begins to overstep its authority, it is then up to the other branches of government to respond and restore the balance of power, and last week the House took strong steps to stop the President’s executive amnesty.
H.R. 240, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2015, provides funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Crucially, during consideration of this funding measure several amendments were offered and adopted by the House to put a halt to the President’s amnesty.
First, my colleague Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL), offered an amendment directly prohibiting any funds—be they direct appropriations, fees collected from applications, or money from any other source—from being used by any agency to implement, administer, enforce, or carry out any of the provisions or policies of the President’s executive amnesty. The amendment also overturns the Justice Department’s so-called prosecutorial discretion memos, which are being used to prevent certain classes of illegal immigrants from being deported, while also including the same prohibitions on funding for any similar executive actions taken after enactment of the bill. This amendment also makes clear that the President’s executive amnesty, and any other similar actions he may try to take in the future, have no statutory or constitutional basis and therefore no legal force. Finally, the amendment prevents any federal funds from being used to grant any form of federal benefits to any illegal immigrant as a result of the policies defunded. Building on the Aderholt amendment, Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) offered an amendment that prevents any funds, including fees, from being used to consider new, renewal or previously denied applications for the President’s de-facto amnesty.
I supported both the Aderholt and Blackburn amendments and, both amendments were adopted into the underlying DHS appropriations measure. In addition to these targeted provisions, H.R. 240 also includes several other important immigration and security measures, including funding to deter and interdict illegal immigrants, increased funding for border security fencing, and funding for E-verify to allow employers to verify the immigration status of workers. Also included in the bill are provisions to prohibit funds from being used to transfer or release Guantanamo Bay detainees, as well as prohibitions on using funding to develop a national identification card. Finally, since one of the best ways to deal with illegal immigration is to enforce the laws we have on the books, the bill includes a provision requiring DHS to enforce all existing immigration laws.
Earlier this month, I took an oath of office to uphold the Constitution, and that is why I voted to defund the President’s dangerous executive amnesty. House Republicans made a clear promise to the American people to rein in an out-of-control executive branch. By taking up this measure to stop the President’s amnesty as one of our first orders of business in the new Congress, we are making clear to the American people and to the President that we fully intend to do our duty as the duly elected Representatives of the American people.
House Passes H.R.37, Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act
The House passed a package of 11 bills, most of which passed the House in the last Congress with broad support, aimed at cutting back on some of the red-tape that is hampering growth and access to capital, particularly for small businesses. Thanks in large part to Dodd-Frank, small businesses in Northwest Florida, and across the country, often find it difficult to access the capital that they need to start or grow their business and hire new employees. By pushing back on Dodd-Frank and streamlining many of its requirements, H.R. 37, Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act, would remove unnecessary barriers and allow capital to flow to the small businesses that are responsible for driving economic growth. The 114th Congress has started with a strong emphasis on passing pro-growth jobs bills, and the H.R. 37 is another indication that the House is committed to supporting our Nation’s job creators.
House Passes H.R.33 – Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act
Across Northwest Florida, and throughout the country, volunteer firefighters put their lives on the line to protect the lives and property of their fellow neighbors. Yet, according to the International Association of Fire Chiefs, over 780,000 volunteer firefighters may be in danger of falling under Obamacare’s crippling employer mandate, potentially leading these volunteer fire departments to cut back on their emergency response capabilities, or simply close their doors all together to avoid being subject to Obamacare’s unsustainable mandate penalties.
As with so many other areas, the architects of Obamacare failed to mention the many negative impacts that it would have across segments of our society far beyond the health care arena. Volunteer firefighters are now potentially in Obamacare’s crosshairs due to the employer mandate, which requires all businesses with more than 50 full-time employees to provide employer-sponsored insurance or face a $2,000 noncompliance penalty for each full-time employee beyond the 30th they hire. The IRS, which is responsible for enforcing Obamacare’s mandates, has historically treated volunteer firefighters as employees for tax purposes, and thus there is a fear that the IRS would extend this treatment and apply the employer mandate to volunteer fire departments.
To prevent this unacceptable scenario, the House passed H.R. 33, Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act, which would amend the Internal Revenue Code to ensure that the hours worked by volunteer firefighters and emergency service personnel are not counted for the purposes of the employer mandate. While I believe we must continue to fight until Obamacare is repealed, H.R. 33 presents a commonsense solution to one of Obamcare’s many problems and I supported it.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Washington Update