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Click on the picture above to watch Congressman Gosar’s speech from the House floor.
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Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) took to the House floor last night to speak out against President Obama’s illegal attempt to enact amnesty by executive action during a special order led by Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL). The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in the case, United States v. Texas which challenges the president’s creation of the amnesty program known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and expansion of the amnesty program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
The full text of the Congressman’s speech is copied below:
Mr. Speaker, I have spoken many times right here on the House floor about upholding the Rule of Law.
Whether it was about a lawless Attorney General who tried to cover up a gun running operation….
…Or a rogue IRS Director illegally targeting innocent Americans…
…Or a president attempting to enact amnesty by executive action…
…Ensuring the federal government is held accountable for its lawlessness has been one of my top priorities as an elected Representative in the People’s House.
And while the concept of equal application of the law may not seem like it needs any explanation, I would like to speak to the heart of why upholding the Rule of Law is so fundamental...
Our laws seek to incentivize Americans to behave responsibly and impose consequences when they don’t.
This is the fundamental contract woven into the fabric of our Republic.
It’s a concept envisioned by our founding fathers not only to protect the individual rights of every man, woman, and child...but also to prohibit executive overreach from an intrusive federal government.
Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis captured these principles best when he stated and I quote, “In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”
Sadly, we are witnessing what happens when the federal government becomes a lawbreaker and breeds contempt for the law.
Anarchy.
The Obama Administration has created an immigration crisis as a result of its failure to enforce federal immigration laws on the books.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported just last week that 2016 could set another record for the number of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC’s) crossing our southern border and that UAC’s increased 1,200 percent from 2011-2014.
Also last week, 1,000 Cuban aliens stormed the Costa Rica-Panama border demanding to pass so they can continue their journey to enter the United States illegally.
Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress clear jurisdiction on immigration matters, and President Obama’s executive actions on immigration clearly infringe on that authority.
The president even admitted this fact 22 times previously when he stated he did not have the authority to take the executive actions he ultimately ended up taking.
Justice Kennedy rightfully pointed out yesterday that the creation of DAPA was a legislative act, not an administrative act.
Thus, DAPA is unconstitutional and the Supreme Court should uphold the lower court’s ruling that halted Obama’s illegal actions.
What incentive do Americans have to follow the Rule of Law if they have no faith their government will do the same?
How can lawmakers ask immigrants seeking to migrate lawfully to our country to follow these rules when the president so blatantly violates them?
Ultimately, if we don’t take bold action now to hold the president accountable for his lawlessness, we risk permanently damaging the integrity of our laws beyond all repair.
The good news is there is a solution.
The House must utilize our “Power of the Purse” and block any and all funding for the president’s executive amnesty orders.
I am attempting to do just that and recently spearheaded an appropriations rider supported by 35 of my colleagues to block funding for all executive actions on immigration dating back to 2011.
Returning to the Rule of Law begins with the House enforcing its Constitutional Power of the Purse.
Congress must fundamentally reject this lawlessness by defunding the president’s unconstitutional amnesty orders.
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