Congress is back in the lame duck session and is considering what type of spending bill to pass. This is important to us because a long-term spending bill takes the power of the purse away from the next Congress to defund President Obama’s executive amnesty. Only a short-term spending bill would both keep the government open and equip the 114th Congress with the power to defund.
There’s been a lot of talk about whether Congress has the power to defund this amnesty. The answer is yes. Here’s more:
Harold Rogers, House Appropriations chair, insisted that Appropriations could not withhold funding for specific measures including immigration but is instead obligated to pass an omnibus bill that would include all spending. A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, however, found that Congress does have the power to block Obama’s action.
In its opinion, CRS wrote that the Supreme Court has recognized that Congress may always circumscribe agency discretion to allocate resources by putting restrictions in the operative statutes. Where Congress has done so, “An agency is not free simply to disregard statutory responsibilities.” Therefore, if a statute were enacted which prohibited appropriated funds from being used for immigration, then “the relevant funds would be unavailable to be obligated or expended for those purposes…”
In other words, Congress has full authority to restrict all amnesty funds. Executive amnesty is not a “done deal.” We aim to stop it with your help!
I thank the thousands of you that made calls in the last two weeks. CAPS launched both a national call campaign as well as a localized patch-through phone campaign to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose CA 23rd district is in our own backyard, the Bakersfield area. This massive patch-through phone campaign (free to our members) resulted in thousands of calls to the House Majority Leader’s office urging him to take the steps to defund this amnesty.
Result: After hearing from thousands of CAPS’ members, McCarthy tweeted:
“It is our obligation & responsibility to fight this brazen power grab that doesn’t solve the real problems.”
Our thoughts exactly. We already know the problems and the solution is simple: Secure our borders and enforce our nation’s immigration laws! More results like this are needed for our shared cause to win and are only possible with your continued activism and financial support!
More calls are needed this week. Have you taken action on these recent alerts? And, if you did, please do it again during this Lame Duck Congressional Session.
1. Call your Senators and Representative today and tell them to bar funding by passing only a short-term funding bill. The full alert text is here , below is a summary. Call your Senators and Representative through the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 866-220-0044. Please make the calls even if one or more of your officials is hopeless on immigration issues. Even many amnesty supporters oppose this unilateral action by the President. Tell your officials:
You oppose this unilateral action by President Obama to pre-empt America’s immigration laws.
Congress should bar funding to implement this amnesty. It should only pass short-term funding bills so that the new Congress can remove funding next year.
3. Keep up the pressure and call House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA 23rd district), even if you are NOT in his district. And, please share the campaign on Facebook by clicking on the infographic below:
CAPS Board Chairman Dick Schneider Honored by Sierra Club
Stay tuned to your inbox, CAPS Facebook page, Twitter feed and website for more developments and information about how you can help preserve the environment and promote a healthy economy.
Sincerely, Jo Wideman CAPS Executive Director
CAPS just launched the CROWDIFORNIA Video Contest, a nationwide contest created to increase awareness among high school and college students about America’s and California’s rapid population growth, its effects on the environment, wildlife and the quality of human life and the benefits of a sustainable population.
Students are asked to create up to a 60 second video, telling their CROWDIFORNIA story and suggesting a solution. Learn more (including info on cash and prizes!), enter and share on Facebook by clicking here. Catch CAPS mini-documentary California Then and Now.
Board Spotlight
Congrats to CAPS Chairman Dick Schneider (above left)!
At the 90th Anniversary banquet for the Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter, Dick received the “Acre by Acre Award for Land Conservation” in recognition of the numerous campaigns that he has have been involved with over the past 15 years.
Dick recently spearheaded the Save Dublin Open Space Initiative that won by a landslide in the recent elections.
