SHAFAQNA – U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said on Friday that President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration has sabotaged chances for bipartisan legislation.
Boehner said House Republicans intend to fight the president’s action, which was announced on Thursday, but did not detail a course of action. He indicated Obama’s decision to use his executive authority and bypass the U.S. Congress, where immigration legislation has stalled, could taint future efforts.
“All year long I have warned the president that by … threatening action repeatedly on immigration, he was making it impossible to build the trust necessary to work together,” Boehner told reporters. “With this action, the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of … bipartisan reform that he claims to seek.”
Obama, in a televised speech from the White House on Thursday night, said he intended to sign an order that would ease the threat of deportation for some 4.7 million undocumented immigrants, setting up a clash with congressional Republicans who opposed the move.
Obama is set to sign the immigration order Friday afternoon at a high school in Las Vegas.
(Reporting By Amanda Becker; Editing by Bill Trott and Susan Heavey)