RNC Statement on President Obama’s Executive Overreach

RNC Statement on President Obama’s Executive Overreach
 
WASHINGTON – RNC Chairman Reince Priebus released the following statement on President Obama’s executive overreach:

"We are a nation of immigrants, and we are also a nation of laws and limited executive power. The President repeatedly said he did not have the authority to take this action. We agreed with the President when he said, 'his notion that I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true.' We wish he had kept his word to the American people. The Constitution does not grant the President the power to act as a one-man legislature when he disagrees with Congress and with voters.
 
"The last time the President issued a politically motivated executive order to change our immigration laws, he precipitated a crisis at our border, leaving thousands of children at risk and ripping apart the families he claims to want to protect. Granting amnesty does not secure our borders. Sadly, rather than trying to solve our country's immigration problems, the President's actions are intended to poison the legislative process at a time when he should be working to bring Americans together.
 
"If he believed that his actions were urgent and that he had the constitutional authority all along, why did he wait six years into his presidency to act? If he believed he was doing the will of the American people and acting in the best interests of American workers and those waiting in line to become Americans, why did he wait until after this last election?
 
"I am confident that the Republican Congress will do everything within their power to uphold the Constitution. The American people rejected the administration’s policies during the midterms; they will do so again in 2016."