White House issues veto threat on DHS funding bill

The White House on Monday said President Barack Obama won’t sign the legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security if it includes amendments to roll back the president’s recent executive actions on immigration.

The Office of Management and Budget said in a statement that the administration supports the nearly $40 billion legislation to fund DHS through Sept. 30. But it “strongly opposes” any new amendments that would essentially block Obama’s executive actions that halt the deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants.

“The president’s immigration accountability executive actions strengthen our border security, ensure undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents pass background checks to obtain temporary relief from removal, and require everyone to play by the same rules,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. “If presented to the President with objectionable restrictions, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto this bill.”

The statement was released just before the House Rules Committee considered five new amendments by Republicans to the DHS funding bill. All five amendments take aim at Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

SEE ALSO: GOP fight against Obama’s executive actions to start soon

One amendment would prevent the use of funds “from whatever source” to be used to implement Obama’s executive actions on immigration, as well as the Morton Memos of 2011 and 2012 that instruct immigration officials to focus deportation efforts on certain undocumented immigrants, including those with serious criminal records. Another amendment would block funding from being used to carry out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects undocumented youth from deportation and allows them to work.

Another amendment would require DHS to focus immigration enforcement on those convicted of domestic violence, sexual abuse and child abuse. There’s also an amendment that would block policies that put U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents at a “disadvantage” over undocumented workers, and another amendment that would prioritize people who came to the U.S. legally over those who came here illegally.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) spoke out against the amendments during the House Rules Committee hearing, saying: “I don’t think these amendments solve our need to reform the immigration system.” She added that the amendments would essentially put not only Dreamers and the parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents at risk of deportation, but also victims of domestic violence.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a longtime supporter of immigration reform, also spoke out against the amendments during the hearing. He said the amendments by Republicans that would block Obama’s executive actions on immigration threaten to shut down DHS at a time when there’s increased terrorist risks.

“I find it hard to believe that after the incidents we all saw unfolding overseas this very past week—with bombings and shootings and hostages taken in recent days—that your side wants to play political theater with the federal agency—the biggest law enforcement entity we have—the entity charged with guarding our ports, our cargo, our borders, our airports and our coasts,” he said, directing his remarks to Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who chairs the House Rules Committee.

Gutierrez added, “I just don’t see how this is good politics, good policy or way of reassuring the American people that the United States Congress in the hands of a Republican Party is doing everything it can to keep us safe.”

SEE ALSO: Marco Rubio returns to immigration debate in book

Meanwhile, Heritage Action for America on Monday urged lawmakers to vote in support of the DHS funding bill and the amendments to block Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

“If the bill is amended to stop President Obama’s dangerous and unlawful amnesty as expected, Heritage Action will support H.R. 240 and will include it as a key vote on our legislative scorecard,” the conservative group said in a statement.

The House will likely vote on the DHS funding bill and the proposed amendments on Wednesday.

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