Sunday, February 17, 2019

Unilateral Presidential Actions

Remember the pen and the phone?  Remember when President Obama changed the Obamacare law in contravention of what the Congress passed?  Liberals cheered when Democratic presidents went rogue, but now that a (Republican) president wants to secure the border, that's a bad thing?  Perhaps I can be forgiven for believing that their goals are somewhat partisan:
Whatever your position is on President Trump's declaration of a national emergency in order get the wall on the southern border built, one thing is clear: Democrats denouncing this decision are absolute hypocrites.

Barack Obama started his presidency with his party controlling both houses of Congress. The moment the GOP took back the House, Obama decided he was unwilling to work on compromise legislation to achieve his agenda, and instead repeatedly threatened to enact his agenda unilaterally. “We’re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help they need. I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone,” he said in January 2014. And he followed through on that threat, even on issues such as immigration. Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) programs via executive action, essentially giving amnesty to illegal immigrants without the consent of Congress.

Back then, Democrats in Congress loved it when Obama abused his power to alter immigration law without their consent. In May 2014, Sen. Chuck Schumer (R-N.Y.) warned Republicans in Congress that “if they don’t pass immigration reform... the president will have no choice but to act on his own.”
You don't like that a national emergency has been invoked?  There are currently 31 in effect, including some from the last president saying we're not going to be friends with some of the people who are destabilizing Yemen.  Which is more of a national emergency, the stability of Yemen or our own border?

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