Providing for Consideration of H.R. 37, Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. 185, Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. 240, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I think my good friends who are on the floor today, my good friends on the Republican side of the aisle, have failed to read the Constitution, which includes, clearly, the President's authority for executive actions and not, as they have articulated, an executive order.

And it says in the ``take care clause'' that he has the ability to manage this government, as Presidents Reagan and Eisenhower did.

What I would offer to say is, there is nothing in what the President has done but to exercise executive action. But I will say to them that Secretary Johnson of Homeland Security has said that we are placing ourselves in a dangerous position, not because of the President's actions, not because of the appropriations bill, but because of these enormous poison pills that are stamping and stomping on the President's right to executive action.

I oppose all of the bills that are presently in this rule, including the regulatory bill, the Financial Services--all of them have poison pills. The regulatory bill, for example, wants 70 criteria before any agency can pass a regulation.

Yes, to my Republican friends, we are in a moment, a historic moment. France was more than a wake-up call. But what I will say to you is that we can pass a clean Homeland Security appropriations bill and we can end this dangerous condition that we are in.

I would ask my colleagues to eliminate the poison pills of pulling back on the President's constitutional authority.

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Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the rule and to the bill.

For over 500 days, Republican leadership refused to bring comprehensive immigration reform for a vote, this despite ample support from both sides of the aisle to pass bipartisan legislation from the Senate.

In the face of Republican inaction, however, President Obama made the appropriate and the lawful move to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and to create deferred action for parents. Now, Republicans have decided to hold our national security hostage in order to placate the anti-immigrant fringe.

Make no mistake, this rule and bill have nothing to do with our national security and have everything to do with tearing down the President's legal executive action on immigration.

It has been clear to me, though, that whatever this President puts forward, Republicans will oppose; but it is hard to believe, given the dangers we face, that Republicans won't work in a bipartisan manner to keep our country safe.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.

Mr. POLIS. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 15 seconds.

Ms. LEE. Thank you for the additional time.

This is cynical. It is anti-immigrant. We should defeat this rule, and we should defeat the underlying legislation if these poison pill amendments are adopted.

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