Stopping the President's Executive Overreach, Funding DHS is 'Sensible Way Forward,' McConnell Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor urging Senate Democrats to work with Republicans to stop the President’s recent immigration overreach and fund the Department of Homeland Security:
“Yesterday, President Obama took the extreme step of vetoing good American jobs.
“He sided with partisan extremists and powerful special interests over the middle class.
“It says a lot about the priorities of this Administration. But if the White House thinks this is the end of the new Congress' push for American jobs, it's wrong. I'll soon have more to say about this, and what the Senate plans to do.
“But for the moment, the Senate is focused on overcoming another extreme idea: the Democrats' Homeland Security filibuster to defend executive overreach.
“Many Senate Democrats led their constituents to believe they’d do something about the kind of executive overreach President Obama referred to as ‘unwise and unfair’ and ‘ignoring the law.’
“We’ve since heard excuses from Democrats to cover for their refusal to do so. But the time for excuses has now passed. Democrats will soon have another chance to prove they were serious.
“Later this week, the Senate will consider a bill from the Senior Senator from Maine that’s about as reasonable as you can get. Obviously, President Obama was right to refer to the kind of overreach he took in November as ‘ignoring the law.’ And Senator Collins’ sensible bill focuses simply on preventing that most egregious example of executive overreach from taking effect. It’s as simple as that.
“Her bill isn't tied to funding for DHS either. So there are no excuses left. Democrats should join us in voting for this common-sense legislation.
“In the meantime, we’ve offered Democrats the chance to prove they were serious about something else: funding the Department of Homeland Security.
“It’s really something to watch Democrats vote to block funding for this department one day, then hold a hypocritical press conference the next.
“Democrats need to end their weeks-long filibuster of Homeland Security funding right now.
“We’ve continually offered them sensible opportunities to do so. Yesterday, we offered them another.
“But it will require their cooperation to achieve.
“The dual-pronged approach I've outlined — allowing the Senate to stop ‘unwise and unfair’ overreach on the one hand, and to fund DHS through the fiscal year on the other — is a sensible way forward.
“But it can’t be achieved without cross-partisan cooperation.
“The onus continues to be on the Democrat Party to keep the Department of Homeland Security funded. Democrats can fund DHS now, not by holding more hypocritical press conferences but by ending their senseless filibuster and cooperating across the aisle.
“That’s what American expect. That’s what Democrats can finally work together with us to get done now.”
Related Issues: Senate Democrats, Energy, Labor, Infrastructure, Keystone XL Pipeline, Middle Class
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