Politics

Republican Whip: ‘Light Up The Senate Switchboard’ To Fight Obama Amnesty

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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House Republican Whip Steve Scalise encouraged voters to “light up the Senate switchboard” in order to make Democrats “feel the heat” ahead of a Monday night vote in order to block funding for a Department of Homeland Security bill which would fund President Obama’s executive amnesty proposal.

Both houses of Congress passed a one-week stop-gap measure late on Friday to continue funding DHS through next week. That vote came hours after the House declined to pass a bill to fund the agency for three weeks. Republicans hope to defund the part of DHS’s budget which would fund Obama’s unilateral proposal to grant amnesty and work permits to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.

Though members of the House GOP voted against the three-week funding bill, Scalise asserted in an interview with “Fox News Sunday” host Chris  Wallace that the party is united in its opposition to Obama’s move. And he said that getting the Senate to vote on the measure was a coup of sorts.

“Our goal is to fight this president’s illegal actions on immigration, and we are now in a position to force the Senate to go to conference committee which is what we wanted to do all along last week when they rejected our language,” Scalise told Wallace.

Wallace pushed back, asserting that the Senate will likely reject the bill and Republicans will find themselves “back in exactly the same situation.”

That’s why voters who oppose Obama’s immigration action should call their senators, Scalise said.

“Well, I wouldn’t presume that because, again, two weeks ago the Senate Democrats said they weren’t even going to take up our bill, but sure enough on Friday they were forced up to take up our bill,” Scalise said.

“But there’s going to be a vote,” Scalise he continued, adding, “and that’s why I say, it’s important for people that agree with us that the President doesn’t have this ability to put illegal immigration laws in place executively, they need to light up the senate switchboard and make those democrats feel the heat who have been standing with the president on his illegal actions.”

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