Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that President Barack Obama's planned executive action on immigration is meant to force Republicans into a debate about whether to impeach Obama, and indicated that the GOP should stay away from that option.
"I believe that he's trying to force the Republicans into a fight that we don't need to get into right now, and that's the impeachment fight," Miller said on NewsRadio 1620 in Florida.
Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that Republicans should not get drawn into an impeachment battle with President Barack Obama over immigration. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
"He's looking at 2016, and he wants to discredit us as the leaders that we need to be, as we go through this process," Miller said.
Obama said a day after the midterm elections that he would take some action on immigration on his own, since Congress has been unable to act. That threat continues to anger Republicans, who say Obama has no right to change the law on his own just because he's impatient and wants to create a legal status for millions of illegal immigrants.
Republicans are known to be discussing legislative language to prevent the government from using any funds to implement Obama's plan to expand green cards for millions of immigrants. That could involve adding that language to a bill funding the government, or only passing a short-term funding bill and allowing the GOP House and Senate to add defunding language early next year.
In his comments Tuesday, Miller indicated the GOP should not get bogged down in an impeachment debate, and said Republicans should instead focus on sending up common-sense policies to the White House for Obama's signature.
"What we've got to do is continue to take fight to him, lay bills on his desk, make him make a decision one way or another, and we will find out very quickly who the real party of 'no' is," he said. "It hasn't been the Republicans, it's been Harry Reid and the Democratic Senate."
Several Republicans have said the new GOP Congress and the Obama administration should find ways to work together for the next two years, but that's probably easier said than done on both sides. House Republicans are preparing a lawsuit against the administration for its implementation of Obamacare, and the GOP has said any move by Obama to act on immigration by himself would likely poison the well for future work.
