Immigration

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a few years ago President Obama gave a speech in Miami where he said the following about immigration: ``I know [that] some . . . wish that I could just bypass Congress and change the law by myself. But that's not how democracy works.'' That was the President in Miami a couple of years ago. He is right--that isn't how it works. Apparently that wasn't enough to stop him from pursuing the kind of partisan overreach he once described as ``ignoring the law'' and ``unwise and unfair.'' It didn't keep him from doing that anyway. Maybe he didn't anticipate that a Federal district court would issue a preliminary injunction to prevent him from moving forward. Maybe he didn't expect that a Federal appeals court would uphold that ruling.

But now the Supreme Court will hear arguments in this case later this month on core constitutional principles like the separation of powers and the duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. That is why I led a group of 43 Republican Senators yesterday in filing an amicus brief in support of the challenge to this overreach--a challenge brought by a majority of America's Governors and attorneys general from across our country. As we highlighted in the brief, the administration's Executive action ``stands in stark contravention to Federal law and to the constitutional principle of the separation of powers.'' It is also an ``explicit effort to circumvent the legislative process.''

So, look, whether Republicans or Democrats, this kind of partisan overreach should worry all of us no matter who is in the White House because not only is the President's blatant refusal to follow the law an extraordinary power grab, it is a direct challenge to Congress's constitutional authority and a direct attack on our constitutional order.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source