Congressman Tom Marino, PA-10, Lycoming County voted with 12 out of 13 of his fellow Pennsylvania Republican congressional delegation members to fund the government in anticipation of the new Republican majority coming in the 114th Congress citing a greater ability to stop Obama's push for executive amnesty.
Representative Marino, along with his colleagues, expressed serious reservations about supporting the so-called "cromnibus" bill which prompted two separate group meetings with the delegation and Speaker of the House, John Boehner signaling the delegation's significant influence.
Marino's main contention was the continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through February 27, 2015 which could allow the department to use taxpayer dollars for the implementation of President Obama's Presidential Memorandum -- Modernizing and Streamlining the U.S. Immigrant Visa System for the 21st Century dubbed "executive amnesty."
Marino submitted an amendment to the Rules Committee which would have defunded DHS's ability to fulfill Obama's amnesty. Several of his colleagues did the same and there are assurances those amendments will be considered in order to halt Obama's executive amnesty when Republicans have full control of Congress next month.
Attached to the continuing resolution was an omnibus bill containing a package of appropriations bills. The omnibus package contained 11 of 12 appropriations bills. The appropriations bills contained several significant provisions for trimming spending. Some of the most important of those were deep cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), $345.6 million dollars, and ends the administration's targeting of conservative groups and individuals.
It also scales back of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It cuts approximately $60 million from the EPA while preventing the Army Corps from regulating farm ponds and irrigation ditches via the proposed Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule.
Congressman Marino issued the following statement about the bills:
"Harry Reid and Obama have little interest in serious fixes to our ailing economy and skyrocketing debt. Instead they promised to shutdown the government, put TSA agents on leave during the peak holiday travel season and strip every provision to reign in government spending from bills originating in the House. That is totally unacceptable.
The American people gave Republicans control of the House and Senate so we could reign in this President and get things done. We have a mandate to do exactly that.
I disagree with virtually every step in the process that brought this bill to the floor of the House, but I voted in favor of the bill to extend federal money for the remainder of the fiscal year while limiting funding for DHS and giving Republican majorities another real chance to stop Obama's amnesty.
I made this vote with the assurance that my amendment to defund the DHS's plans to implement Obama's executive order will move forward before he has a chance to implement the mechanisms of amnesty. When the next Congress begins, the Republicans will have control of the Senate and this is when we will systematically dismantle the President's destructive policies."