Boehner tells Senate Democrats to "get off their ass" on immigration
Last Updated Feb 11, 2015 12:51 PM EST
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, implored Senate Democrats on Wednesday to "get off their ass" and help the Senate Republican majority advance a bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security while de-funding President Obama's recent executive actions on immigration.
Last Month, the House passed a bill allocating $39.7 billion to the Department of Homeland Security, the agency tasked with enforcing the nation's immigration laws. The bill included language to block President Obama's move last year to shelter up to 5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. from the threat of deportation by granting them temporary work permits. The proposal also undid the president's 2012 decision to defer deportations of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
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If the Senate does not take up the House bill blocking Obama's immigration moves, it will be an "act of monumental arrogance," House Speaker John...
Now the ball is in the Senate's court, Boehner said Wednesday, insisting no fewer than three times that the House has done its job.
"We won the fight to fund the Department of Homeland Security and to stop the president's unconstitutional actions," he said. "Now it's time for the Senate to do their work."
"You know, in this gift shop out here, they've got these little booklets on how a bill becomes a law," Boehner added. "The House has done its job. Why don't you go ask the Senate Democrats when they're gonna get off their ass and do something other than to vote no."
Senate Democrats, wielding a 46-seat majority, were able to successfully block consideration of the bill three times last week by depriving Republicans of the 60 votes necessary to proceed. They demanded a clean funding bill devoid of any restrictive language on immigration, something GOP conservatives have fiercely opposed.
A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, directed the blame for the impasse squarely at Republicans in a statement on Wednesday.
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Boehner tells Senate Democrats to "get off their ass" on immigration