[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3667]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              IMMIGRATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a few years ago President Obama gave a 
speech in Miami where he said the following about immigration: ``I know 
[that] some . . . wish that I could just bypass Congress and change the 
law by myself. But that's not how democracy works.'' That was the 
President in Miami a couple of years ago. He is right--that isn't how 
it works. Apparently that wasn't enough to stop him from pursuing the 
kind of partisan overreach he once described as ``ignoring the law'' 
and ``unwise and unfair.'' It didn't keep him from doing that anyway. 
Maybe he didn't anticipate that a Federal district court would issue a 
preliminary injunction to prevent him from moving forward. Maybe he 
didn't expect that a Federal appeals court would uphold that ruling.
  But now the Supreme Court will hear arguments in this case later this 
month on core constitutional principles like the separation of powers 
and the duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. That 
is why I led a group of 43 Republican Senators yesterday in filing an 
amicus brief in support of the challenge to this overreach--a challenge 
brought by a majority of America's Governors and attorneys general from 
across our country. As we highlighted in the brief, the 
administration's Executive action ``stands in stark contravention to 
Federal law and to the constitutional principle of the separation of 
powers.'' It is also an ``explicit effort to circumvent the legislative 
process.''
  So, look, whether Republicans or Democrats, this kind of partisan 
overreach should worry all of us no matter who is in the White House 
because not only is the President's blatant refusal to follow the law 
an extraordinary power grab, it is a direct challenge to Congress's 
constitutional authority and a direct attack on our constitutional 
order.

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