12/1/2014

Republicans Try to Balance Immigration Action While Avoiding a Shutdown - NYTimes.com

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POLITICS

N YT NOW

Republicans Try to Balance Immigration Action

While Avoiding a Shutdown
By ASHLEY PARKER

DEC. 1, 2014

WASHINGTON Congressional Republicans returning to Washington on

Monday found themselves facing a treacherous 10 days as they try to
balance their desire to fight President Obamas executive action on
immigration with the political imperative not to shut down the government.
Congress must pass a broad spending bill before Dec. 11 to prevent a
government shutdown. But Mr. Obamas executive action last month, which
could allow up to five million people now in the country illegally to live and
work without threat of deportation, has inflamed Republicans and
complicated their calculation over what has often been a routine spending
fight.
House Republicans are reviewing a plan by Representative Tom Price of
Georgia, who is popular among more conservative members, that offers a
hybrid solution: a combination of a broad-based spending bill that would
keep the government funded through September 2015 and a stopgap
spending measure to pay for operations of the Department of Homeland
Security, the agency with primary responsibility for carrying out Mr.
Obamas immigration action.
That plan, which is being called the Cromnibus for its combined
elements of a continuing resolution for the short-term portion and omnibus
for the broader-based spending, is likely to be considered when House
Republicans gather Tuesday morning in a closed-door meeting.

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Republicans Try to Balance Immigration Action While Avoiding a Shutdown - NYTimes.com

The rationale behind the short-term measure is that Republicans could

revisit it early next year when they will control both chambers of Congress
and, they believe, have more leverage in negotiating with Mr. Obama over
immigration.
A complicating factor, however, is that the primary agency responsible
for carrying out the presidents executive action is the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is financed entirely through
fees collected from immigration applications and therefore cannot be
defunded in the appropriations process.
Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are still
pushing for a clean spending bill, which they plan to have ready by next
week. But Mr. Price, who is not a member of the Appropriations Committee,
could help rally reluctant Republicans behind the legislation.
House Republicans also are considering taking legal action, either
adding an immigration component to a lawsuit Speaker John A. Boehner
filed last month against the Obama administration over the Affordable Care
Act, or filing a new suit challenging the presidents executive action.
Some of them are also talking about a separate bill to undo the
executive action though unless Republicans attach it to a broader piece of
policy legislation Mr. Obama supports, Senate Democrats are unlikely to
bring it to a vote. And even if they do, Mr. Obama is likely to veto it.
Republicans have another avenue to try to force Mr. Obama to
agreement: blocking the presidents nominations. Senators Ted Cruz of
Texas and Mike Lee of Utah have already promised to subject Loretta Lynch
the presidents choice to replace Eric H. Holder Jr. as attorney general
to tough scrutiny over her views on the constitutionality of Mr. Obamas
executive action. And the recent resignation of Chuck Hagel as secretary of
defense sets up another tough nomination fight for Mr. Obama.
Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of
Nevada and majority leader, warned that with the long list of tasks
lawmakers hope to accomplish in the lame-duck session funding the
government, approving new ambassadors and extending some tax cuts,

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Republicans Try to Balance Immigration Action While Avoiding a Shutdown - NYTimes.com

among other issues they should be prepared to work into their winter
recess.
He added that Congress might have to stay in Washington until the
week before Christmas but, he hoped, not into the Christmas holiday.
Mr. Boehner and his Republican leadership team, as well as Senator
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the incoming majority leader, have all been
clear about their desire to avoid a government shutdown at nearly all costs.
The shutdown last year, over Mr. Obamas signature health care law, hurt
Republicans, who say they need to show the country that they are capable of
governing.
Nonetheless, a handful of conservative Republicans are so incensed at
Mr. Obamas immigration action that they refuse to take any option off the
table, including a shutdown.
Another group of House Republicans, including Representative Mario
Diaz-Balart of Florida, is quietly continuing to work on its own incremental
immigration legislation. The proposal would most likely start with the
border security measures favored by all Republicans, but also address other
issues within the immigration system, including the illegal immigrants
already in the country. No legislation out of the House is likely to happen
until the new Congress.
Representative Mick Mulvaney, Republican of South Carolina, said that
Republicans were likely to settle on some version of Mr. Prices plan. But, he
said, House Republicans nonetheless need to send a strong public message
that conveys their anger and frustration with Mr. Obamas unilateral action
on immigration.
Folks understand we wont fix it now, but they wont understand if we
dont send a message to the president that we dont agree with what he did,
Mr. Mulvaney said.
On Tuesday, both the House Homeland Security Committee and the
House Judiciary Committee have scheduled hearings on Mr. Obamas
executive action. Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security and one
of the architects of Mr. Obamas action, is set to testify before the Homeland

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Republicans Try to Balance Immigration Action While Avoiding a Shutdown - NYTimes.com

Security Committee.
Mr. Johnson will tell the committee that the unauthorized immigrants
who will receive protection under Mr. Obamas order are not priorities for
removal.
Its time we acknowledge that and encourage them to be held
accountable, he will say, according to his prepared remarks that were
released Monday. This is simple common sense.
Democrats are eager to keep the pressure on their Republican rivals. As
news of Mr. Prices plan spread before the Thanksgiving break, House
Democrats were quick to label the option a government shutdown, partial
or otherwise.
Senate and House negotiators also worked through the afternoon
Monday to save legislation that would reinstate around 55 tax breaks for
businesses and individuals, which expired last year and would have to be
revived retroactively by Dec. 31. If Congress fails, taxpayers will not be able
to claim the tax benefits this year.
The House is preparing to vote soon on a measure that would restore
the tax breaks retroactively for this year only, effectively putting off the
broader tax discussion to next year, when Republicans control Congress.
Mr. Reid and Representative Dave Camp, Republican of Michigan and
chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, had neared a $440 billion tax
agreement last week before a presidential veto threat sent them back to the
negotiating table. Now, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and
Finance Committee chairman, is trying to add more benefits for the working
poor to win over the White House.
Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.

2014 The New York Times Company

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