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House Tea Party to McConnell: Don't Drop Our Amnesty Fight
Thursday, January 22, 2015 08:10 AM
By: Melissa Clyne
Two weeks into his reign as Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell is facing the wrath of the most conservative members of the House for saying that the Senate may not have the votes to pass a House bill blocking President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
"It’s uncanny to me that our leadership … is already sending the message that we’ve already lost this battle," Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador said Wednesday, according to The Hill.
"It’s high time that Mitch McConnell stand up and say, 'this is what we are fighting for in the Senate.' That’s definitely what he said during his campaign, so let’s make sure he does it now as the majority leader."
Labrador and other tea party Republicans accuse McConnell and his GOP colleagues in the upper chamber of throwing in the towel without a fight to block the president’s executive order that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the country.
The bill approved in the House blocks funding for Obama’s recent order and overturns another from 2012 that permits millions of people brought to the U.S. illegally as children to remain in the country.
The legislation is part of larger bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security through September, avoiding an agency shutdown.
Obama has vowed to veto a Homeland Security funding bill if it repeals his executive immigration orders, and McConnell and other lawmakers in both chambers are unwilling to risk a DHS shutdown.
At a Republican retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania, last week, McConnell told the members that he was committed to trying to get the legislation passed in the Senate but cautioned that "if we're unable to do that, then we'll let you know what comes next," according to Reuters.
Republicans control 54 of the 100 Senate seats. Democrats have 44 and independents have two. At least six Democrats would have to vote for the bill in order for it to pass.
Some House Republicans are especially upset about talk of a "backup plan" to remove immigration legislation from DHS funding.
"The answer to every offered suggestion is, 'No, we can’t do that. No, we can’t take on the president. No, that will never work,'" said Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, according to The Hill. "We didn’t promise we were going to cop out. Plan B always seems to be not taking on this president."
Labrador pulled no punches, calling out by name fellow tea party members in the Senate.
"It’s also high time that Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and others decide that they are going to start fighting in the Senate," he said.
Another tea party Republican, Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona, did not identify anyone by name but called on the Senate to stand up and fight.
"I’m speaking to our conservative counterparts ... on the Senate side, who have said time and time again, 'you in the House need to do this, you in the House need to do that.'
"Well you know what? Now it's in the Senate and they have an opportunity to shine, and to do their job," Salmon said.
