White House: Obama Will Shut Down Gov't if Congress Defunds Exec Amnesty

White House: Obama Will Shut Down Gov't if Congress Defunds Exec Amnesty

on Mon, 1 Dec 2014

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest is warning that President Barack Obama would veto any spending bill that prohibits federal funds from being spent to enact Obama's executive amnesty. That means Obama is willing to shut down the government to preserve his executive amnesty. 

When asked if Obama would veto a bill that prohibits federal funds from being spent to enact his executive amnesty, Earnest simply replied: "yes."

When asked if that would mean Obama is willing to shut down the government if Congress passes a funding bill that would "tie the president's hands" on executive amnesty, Earnest spun and said, "I actually don’t believe that members of Congress are going to be willing to go along with an effort to shut down the government over the president’s executive action on immigration." Congress must pass a new spending bill by December 11.

Earnest was not as clear about Obama's intentions before Obama announced his executive amnesty. On November 20, Earnest was asked, "So you don't rule out the President signing into law something that would undo the very thing he’s going to announce tomorrow night?" He responded then, "Well, I think that seems--I think we'll have to sort of evaluate for ourselves what sort of proposals Republicans put forward, so I wouldn't want to hazard a guess at this point. But it won't surprise you to hear proposals that are floated like that certainly would not be among the kinds of proposals we’d support."

House conservatives are reportedly working on legislation that would ensure "no part of any appropriation" could be used to enact Obama's executive amnesty. Last week, the Congressional Research Service sent a letter to Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) reporting that Congress does have the ability to restrict expenditures by an agency.