Republican leaders in the House would not allow a vote on an amendment to the $1.1 trillion spending bill to defund the president’s executive action on immigration because they worried it might pass, according to Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a South Carolina Republican who appeared Thursday on "America’s Forum."
"We did offer an amendment to the Rules Committee last night that would defund the executive amnesty," Mulvaney told the
Newsmax TV program. "There are even some Democrats who are privately very frustrated with what the president has done. They're not necessarily as upset about the outcome as they are about the process.
"What my leadership will say if it passes, then it can't pass the Senate, we'll have a
government shutdown and goodness gracious we can't have that, so we can't have anything that might lead us down that road so we're not going to give you a vote on your amendment."
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According to Mulvaney, Republican leaders say they are as upset as anyone about Obama’s executive order but that they want to have that fight with the new Congress instead of today.
"I say that's fine, but that's not what you said the day the president gave his speech," Mulvaney told host J.D. Hayworth. "This is the first chance we have to fight it and we're missing that opportunity. Once again, makes the establishing wing of the party look out of touch with folks back home."
While there’s no money in the bill to fund the president’s order, Mulvaney says he and fellow conservatives are upset that "we're not taking any steps to defund it."
"We don't even know where the president is going to take some of this money from," he said.
"I never thought we had the votes to defund the amnesty right now because the Senate is still Democrat, but we gave up without a fight and that is what so troubling to me and to other conservatives. We send a message that we don't care and that bothers me."
Republicans are relying on Democrats to help them pass the bill in the House, he said.
He expect some 50 Republicans, including himself, to vote against it.
Mulvaney said he expects a vote by 4 p.m. Thursday.
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