Immigration News: Will GOP Use Government Shutdown To Stop Obama’s Executive Power On Reform?

Is another government shutdown on the horizon? The Washington Post claims that if you ask any Republican outright, they will deny it, however, multiple reports claim that another government shutdown is pending this time in regards to Obama’s stance on immigration reform. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed these reports on Wednesday, stating that President Obama is not reconsidering using his executive action for immigration reform despite the looming threat from the GOP of a government shutdown.

“It would be a real shame if Republicans were to engage in an effort to shut down the government over a common-sense solution like that. But they’ve done it before, and hopefully they won’t do it again,” Earnest said.

According to the Washington Post, a government shutdown would be prompted by President Obama’s decision to “act unilaterally” and stop mass deportations, possibly even a few million. Republicans, whom already disagree with Obama’s enforcement policies on deportations, will be left with one option to stop the president from expanded on his authority and policies—shutdown the government. The only way to accomplish this would be by adding a provision to Obama’s executive action, thus blocking it to government funding which ends on October 1^st, the end of the fiscal year.

It seems that despite the threat, Republicans are still spilt on the potential shutdown. Sen. Marco Rubio was quoted by Breitbrat as stating, "There will have to be some sort of a budget vote or a continuing resolution vote, so I assume there will be some sort of a vote on this. I'm interested to see what kinds of ideas my colleagues have about using funding mechanisms to address this issue." However, quickly after the report was published, Rubio’s spokesman stated that Democrats were in fact fabricating the shutdown talk.

But like Breitbrat, the Des Moines Register revealed that Rep. Steven King stated “"If the president wields his pen and commits that unconstitutional act to legalize millions, I think that becomes something that is nearly political nuclear. I think the public would be mobilized and galvanized and that changes the dynamic of any continuing resolution and how we might deal with that."