Republicans hope to use President Obama’s immigration executive order to "fracture" Democratic support for the president.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) called on Democratic senators who have criticized Obama’s order to suspend deportations of about 5 million illegal immigrants without authorization from Congress to join Republicans in defunding Obama’s mandate. He told an anti-illegal immigration protest on Tuesday that "nearly a dozen Senate Democrats" have opposed Obama’s action. He said that the GOP should use these qualms to "rein in a lawless president."
"If they’re going to stand up and criticize the president they should vote" to defund the executive order, Cruz said. "This is not a fight between President Obama and Republicans. This is a fight between President Obama and a Congress elected by the American people."
In the absence of a federal budget, Congress must pass a continuing resolution to maintain government funding for the next fiscal year. Cruz said that Republicans should use the appropriations process to "pass a short term resolution that explicitly defunds" the executive order before Republicans assume control of the Senate in January.
Cruz has multiple allies in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, chief among them Iowa Rep. Steve King, who organized Tuesday’s protest. King said that the dissent among Senate Democrats points to a potential bipartisan approach to reversing the executive order. He compared the appropriations strategy to Congress’ refusal to fund the Vietnam War, which sped up U.S. withdrawal.
"The Democrats are starting to fracture to some degree," he said.
King and Cruz said that the GOP should present a united front against Obama in order to defend the Constitution. King said Republicans cannot afford to wait for their majority in 2015 to take action without compromising the "virtue" of their argument against Obama’s "lawlessness."
"How can you say you have the will to defend the Constitution in January, February, or March if you are not willing to defend the Constitution in December?" King said. "It takes the constitutional argument away if we fund it."
Outgoing Minnesota congresswoman and former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said that Republican’s stand against the executive order differs from the budgetary standoff that led to a two-week government shutdown in 2013.
"We are not here to shutdown the American government … we’re here to uphold the Constitution," she said.
Cruz said that Obama was using the executive order to bypass the incoming Republican Congress and avoid compromise.
"Working with Congress requires compromise and this is a president that never ever compromises," he said.
King said Congress should be similarly resolute in opposing Obama’s use of power even as it works to pass piecemeal immigration reform focused on legal immigration and securing the border.
"When the president violates his oath … we’re ever more required to uphold ours," he said.