(CNS News) - Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) says President Obama’s executive action on immigration is unconstitutional and it’s unfair — and that’s why he and 51 other House conservatives voted against a Homeland Security funding bill on Friday that included money for Obama’s attempt to go beyond existing immigration law.
“We need to make the case. We haven’t made the case strong enough,” Jordan told CNN’s “State of the Union,” hosted by the liberal — and sharply critical — Dana Bash (see below).
“What the president did, how is it fair to citizens if you let noncitizens, illegals, go back and get tax refunds for the last three years, as (IRS) Commissioner Koskinen has testified under oath? How is it fair to seniors if you let noncitizens, illegals, participate in our Social Security system? How is it fair to voters?” Jordan asked.
“Our secretary of state, under oath, came and testified in Congress and said noncitizen illegals are going to have a potential now to be involved in our election process, to actually vote.
“And, most importantly, Dana, how is it fair, what the president did, how is it fair to those legal immigrants who did it the right way, who followed the law? How is it fair to them?”
Bash accused Jordan and other conservatives of being more interested in “sticking to principle” than they are in governing.
“We’re most interested in adhering to the principles that are consistent with the Constitution,” Jordan replied. “We’re most interested in doing what the voters elected us to do in November. You don’t think this was a big issue in the election last November? Of course it was…And the voters spoke overwhelmingly.”
Jordan said conservatives want Democrats to join Republicans in a conference committee to work out differences between the “clean” DHS funding bill passed by the Senate — and the bill passed six weeks ago by the House, which includes an amendment barring funding to carry out Obama’s plan to give Social Security numbers to illegal aliens.
“Basic civics,” Jordan said. “And now all we’re saying is, let’s go to conference committee. You passed government class in high school. I did, too. And we know how it works. We pass something, they pass something, you go sit around a table just like this, a nice, round table, and you work out the differences.
“What’s wrong with that process? That’s how it’s supposed to work.” Jordan said. He added, “that’s all” conservatives wanted when they went to House Republican leader and presented their plan last week: “Let’s go to conference. Make sure we go to conference.”
Jordan later said, “We need to get to conference and make sure language that’s close to what we passed in the House is the final product.”
Amid the recent impasse over DHS funding, Joran said he has not discussed an effort with other conservatives to remove John Boehner from the House speakership:
“No, of course not. That’s not…”
“Wait. Wait. Yes or no?” Bash interrupted.
“No. That’s not the point. The point is to do — to do what we told the voters we were going to do, and to do it in a way that’s consistent with the United States Constitution, consistent with fundamental fairness…”
Jordan said House conservatives will not challenge Boehner’s leadership, even if Boehner allows a vote on a clean funding bill next week, when the latest stopgap measure runs out.
“If your colleagues, if your conservative colleagues come to you and say, we want to try to make a play, we’re done with this leadership team, we want to try to make a play to get rid of them?” Bash asked.
“That’s — that’s — no, that’s not going to happen,” Jordan insisted.
Bash asked Jordan why conservative don’t just move to impeach the president “if you think that what the president did was so unconstitutional?”
“We’re not going to do that, either,” Jordan replied.
“One last question,” Bash said. “Do you want the House Republican leadership to succeed or not?”
“Of course we want them to succeed, because that helps the country succeed. That’s good for the families we represent,” Jordan said.
Bash began her interview with under the heading of “chaos in Congress,” saying, “The drama I watched unfold in the Capitol Friday night was different” than other chaotic events she’s covered:
“Now, I was reporting from the Capitol Friday night and had exasperated veteran Republican lawmakers say things to me like, how are we supposed to govern? They were at a loss with how to control their own right flank, at a time when American security couldn’t be more important.”
As she introduced Jordan — “a conservative from that right flank at the heart of all of this” — Bash announced she wanted to ask “the first question that everybody out there is probably asking, probably in disgust, saying, really? What is wrong with Congress? Why can’t you govern? And why can’t you fund a government agency that keeps us safe?”
Bash later asked Jordan why he doesn’t understand the “political reality” that there are not enough votes in the Senate to pass anything other than a clean funding bill; and she also raised criticism by another lawmaker that Jordan and other like-minded conservatives are “phony” because they have “no credible policy proposals and no political strategy to stop Obama’s lawlessness.”
Bash ended the interview by saying that Congress “feels more chaotic. And it is impossible at this moment for the House speaker and the leadership to govern. And they feel like it is, because you-all just don’t take yes for an answer.”
Jordan told her, “What’s best for the country is to fund the Homeland Security Department — to fund the Homeland Security Department, but do it in a way consistent with the Constitution.
“That’s what the country — that’s what the election was about. The last time I checked, Republicans did pretty well in the election last November. We’re supposed to actually — politicians, when they get elected, are actually supposed to do what they told the voters they were going to do when they got the job.”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/rep-jim-jordan-conservatives-havent-made-strong-enough-case-against-obamas
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