Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Authorizing the Speaker to Appear As Amicus Curiae on Behalf of the House

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I think context is important in this debate we are having today. I can't get it out of my head, as we look at House Resolution 639, that our Senate has just announced that it is going to shut down the Supreme Court nomination process.

Only a few years ago, the House shut down the government for 16 days.

We have had 62 ACA repeals.

Mitch McConnell once said, famously, that his goal was to make Obama a one-term President. He failed at that.

The fact is that here we are again with Republican efforts to undermine, thwart, and shut down President Obama. This is outrageous, in my opinion.

House Resolution 639 is nothing but a continuation of the politics of obstruction, just one more way to say you are not really the President, you are not legitimate. That is what this represents today. That is the exercise we are taking on this floor.

President Obama's action will bring relief to millions of families who live in fear. Families shouldn't be torn apart because House Republicans refuse to work together with Democrats to pass an immigration bill which would make executive action unnecessary.

While the Republicans held up progress, President Obama worked within his authority and took courageous steps needed to address the problems of millions of Americans.

The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is an important step toward fixing an immigration system that is inhumane and cruel, and it is within the right of the President to prioritize removal proceedings for certain people. We have to prioritize them. We cannot remove everybody at the same time.

Furthermore, it is consistent with the action of past Presidents, dating back to President Eisenhower, including George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, who both took executive action to keep immigrant families together.

The Republicans offer no substantive findings and no legal arguments in their resolution. This is a delay tactic. This is a political tactic. This does not serve the interests of the American people.

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Mr. ELLISON. The fact that executive action is right for American families, and right for our economy, and right for our society, is what should guide our actions today, not political delay tactics.

Republicans won't acknowledge that immigration and immigrants are an important part of the society that we live in. I stand with the families that President Obama is trying to keep together within his authority.

Vote ``no'' on House Resolution 639.

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