Congress should begin its response to President Barack Obama's executive order on immigration by holding up advice and consent authority in the Senate for his nominees for judges, Cabinet, and ambassadors, said Rep. Trey Gowdy.
"My personal preference, in terms of strategies, is for the Senate to use advice and consent," the South Carolina Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" on Wednesday. "That is where I would start, if I were calling the shots. But, I'm not."
Gowdy said he also was in favor of withholding funding for the immigration order, but warned it was important that Congress "not take the bait," since doing so could lead to a government shutdown.
"What the president wants to us do is to over-respond, so our public approval ratings are as low as his," he said. "The funding gets into a shutdown debate, which we historically have never won."
Gowdy said he preferred a "step by step" strategy toward addressing problems with immigration, rather than a comprehensive bill.
"The word comprehensive, people are just in love with it," he said. "People just love big bills. They're horrible. They're dangerous."
It was "cynical and frustrating" for Obama to have maintained in the past that he lacked the power to act on immigration through executive order, and then pass sweeping changes, Gowdy said.
"You have a (constitutional) law professor who admits he lacks the power to do something. But, because of political expediency and elections are over and he's never going to be on the ballot again, he goes ahead and does it anyway. That is very dangerous. Lay politics aside, it is dangerous to any country that is grounded in respect for the rule of law," he said.
Gowdy questioned the need for legislative or judicial branches of government if the president was going to grant temporary legal status to illegal immigrants, "confer benefits" to them, and possibly pardon those who commit crimes.
"Why do you need a Congress or a Supreme Court? Just have a president," he said.
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