Tag Archives: amnesty

Mar 17 2016

Holding the President Accountable to the Constitution

Holding the President Accountable to the Constitution

Poliquin challenges President’s executive overreach on amnesty

 

WASHINGTON – Today, Maine’s Second District Congressman, Bruce Poliquin, voted for a measure to, for the first time in our Nation’s history, file an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case the United States v. Texas, on behalf of the entire House of Representatives, that will challenge the legitimacy of President Obama’s executive order to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.  Congressman Poliquin released the following statement:

 

“The President is not permitted to write law—only Congress is,” said Congressman Poliquin. “Last year, the President defied the democratic process and violated our Nation’s Constitution by unilaterally granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Today, the House is protecting its Article I authority, defending our Nation’s democratic principles and challenging the President on his illegal overreach.

 

“We must have thoughtful reform of our broken immigration system—not unilateral and unconstitutional action by any Administration without the consent of the American People. As a Nation of immigrants, we should welcome legal immigration and should strive to fix our broken immigration system, but that must be done through the democratic process.”

 

Items to Note:

 

Mar 5 2015

The Baby and the Bath Water

Many Conservatives and Libertarians are frustrated with progress or lack thereof they are seeing in Washington.  With just a few weeks into the legislative session under their belts, Congressmen and women from U.S. House of Representatives are already taking flak from what is viewed as betrayal from a vote taken on the DHS spending bill.  Coupled with the failure to override the President’s veto on the Keystone Pipeline in the Senate, it has not been a good start to the week for Congress.

TMCV shares many of our readers’ disappointment with Bruce Poliquin on his vote on the DHS bill and we have expressed that to the Congressman, but we are not quite ready to throw the baby out with the bath water. While many in the Cain/Richardson camp are thrilled to jump up and claim the Poliquin term in office is an abject failure only a few weeks in, what this past week and a half has really showed to the American public is that the leadership of the Republican Party in both houses is incompetent.  Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are still in charge, they have their troops whipped into shape, and they disdain the Republicans as weak and irrelevant.  It is the opinion of TMCV that Mitch McConnel and John Boehner need to get their intestinal fortitude boosted or step out of the way to let someone with spine, that the Democrats fear, take over.

But here on the edge of the cliff where many are ready to take the plunge over this vote on DHS, lets take a step back, perhaps even a breath or two and examine just exactly what has Bruce voted for.  First, 26 States including Maine have blocked the President’s amnesty bill, which means the President has to take 26 States to court, starting with the 5th Circuit in Texas, in order to continue with his amnesty plan. Until he can win 26 suits, his amnesty plan is dead in the water.

Secondly in January, Poliquin voted for a bill to fund DHS that also defunded Obama’s unilateral executive action on immigration.  The Senate Democrats blocked vote on that bill and would not even negotiate with the House Republicans. Again, where is Mitch McConnel?

Poliquin has stated repeatedly and publicly that he opposes the President’s amnesty plan and will continue to fight it wherever he can.  Because of the grave dangers facing this Country, such as ISIS, he felt it irresponsible to leave the DHS unfunded.  It should be noted that 1500 personnel of DHS and their families in the State of Maine alone depend upon the agency for their paychecks.

Poliquin continues to issue calls for the amnesty bill to be defunded.  He continues to call for the President to honor the checks and balances of our Republic.  Unfortunately, the Congressman seems to be caught between a rock and hard place, with deaf ears on one side and weak knees on the other.  Let’s not toss the bath water out until we are sure what is in it first.