WASHINGTON — Shunning a White House veto threat and opposition within their own party, House Republicans approved legislation Wednesday to overturn President Barack Obama’s key immigration policies.
The 236-191 vote came on a broad bill that would provide $39.7 billion to finance the Homeland Security Department through the rest of the budget year. Lawmakers of both parties have said the legislation is sorely needed to pay for counterterrorism, cybersecurity and other priorities at a moment when the Paris terrorism attacks have underscored dire threats.
Democrats accused Republicans of putting that money at risk by attaching veto-bait amendments on immigration. Some Republicans voiced the same concern. But House GOP leaders and most of their rank-and-file accused Obama in turn of reckless and unconstitutional actions on immigration that had to be answered.
“This executive overreach is an affront to the rule of law and to the Constitution itself,” said House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. “The people made clear that they wanted more accountability from this president, and by our votes here today we will heed their will and we will keep our oath to protect and defend the Constitution.”
Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., chairwoman the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Republicans were simply pandering to the far right.
“Shame on Republicans for attacking the Latino community,” Sanchez said. “Republicans are consciously targeting millions of families who work hard, contribute to our communities and are just trying to give their children a chance at the American dream.”
One of the immigration amendments, approved 237-190, would undo executive actions that Obama announced in November to provide temporary deportation relief and work permits to about 4 million immigrants in the country illegally, mostly people who have children who are citizens or legal permanent residents. The amendment would cancel earlier directives to immigration agents aimed at giving them discretion in focusing deportations on criminals.
A second amendment would delete Obama’s 2012 policy that has granted work permits and stays of deportation to more than 600,000 immigrants who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children under age 16. That measure passed narrowly, 218-209, as 26 of the more moderate Republicans, some representing large Latino populations, joined Democrats in opposition.
The underlying bill passed on a mostly party line vote, with 10 Republicans voting no and two Democrats voting yes.
But even with Republicans in control of the Senate, the bill faces tough sledding there. Republicans are six votes shy of the 60-vote majority needed to advance most legislation, and some GOP senators have argued that the Homeland Security bill shouldn’t be the vehicle for a contentious debate on immigration.
Within the House GOP, too, there’s frustration from some centrist lawmakers that two weeks into a new session of Congress, with a bigger party majority in the House, the most conservative lawmakers are still calling the shots, pushing leaders for a vote to undo the 2012 policy dealing with younger immigrants known as “Dreamers.”
“If we were just specifically dealing with the November overreach of the president, you’d have Democrats who’d be voting with us on that piece of it, but we’ve gone well beyond that,” said Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif. “We’re passing a bill for political reasons, a bill that has no ability to pass the Senate.”
The House votes were set in motion late last year, after Obama infuriated Republicans by announcing executive moves on immigration not long after the GOP swept the midterm elections.
House and Senate Republican leaders have ruled out a government shutdown or any disruption to Homeland Security funding, so it appears likely that once the House bill is rejected by the Senate or vetoed by the president, the House will have to accept a version with less-contentious language on immigration.
