Gibbs: A Vote to Restore the Balance of Powers

Press Release

This morning the House passed a resolution aimed at restoring the balance of power and reining in an out-of-control executive branch. H. Res. 639 authorizes Speaker Paul Ryan to file an amicus brief on behalf of the House of Representatives in a pending Supreme Court case over President Obama's executive actions on illegal immigrants.

The State of Texas led twenty-five other states in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obama's 2014 executive actions, which effectively provides executive amnesty for about 5 million illegal immigrants. The twenty-six states suing the Obama Administration argue that the President's actions violate the principles of the separation of powers clearly laid out in the Constitution.

Several courts found standing for the lawsuit and granted a stay, preventing the Administration from further carrying out actions involved in the President's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA).

After the vote, Congressman Bob Gibbs released the following statement:

"My vote today was not just to stop the President's actions on DACA and DAPA, which effectively legalizes millions of illegal immigrants. This resolution and the amicus brief it authorizes is one of several efforts by the House to restore the balance of powers our Founding Fathers spelled out in the Constitution. President Obama has taken actions that overstep his authority on everything from illegal immigration to EPA regulations. The House is committed to strengthening the constitutional authority of Congress, not to allow an increasingly powerful executive branch to do whatever it wants."

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