Republicans need to take a stand and stop President Barack Obama's "bully" tactics by passing legislation to defund his recent executive order on immigration, former Republican South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" on Wednesday.
"He's going to continue to bully the Congress until Republicans take a stand," said DeMint, who is now president of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "Until the Congress stops rolling over ... the president's going to continue to go around Congress and break the law."
Story continues below video.
Though admitting it was a "tough spot for Republicans to be in," DeMint said voters "just repudiated the president and the policies of the left" in the midterm elections.
He said withholding funds would help to "keep the credibility of the American people who just voted in an election to stop the president."
At the least, the House should "send a bill that funds the government to the Senate, but disallows funding for this unlawful amnesty," DeMint said, adding it could lead to debate that would "get these Democrats on record who have said they're against what the president's done."
House members have "all the tools they need to stop this reckless implementation of an amnesty bill," he said. "The Congress has the ability to fund all government operations, but not to fund the implementation of this amnesty."
DeMint said that withholding funds for certain programs was "not an unusual move to make at all." If Obama vetoed the bill, he said, Republicans would then need to "huddle again and see what they have to do in the best interest of the country."
Obama was not attempting to reform the nation's immigration system, DeMint said, but was merely "giving legal status and work permits to people who will take American jobs."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.