President Obama is willing to let the government shut down if Congress ties his hands on immigration, stated White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest at today’s White House Press briefing.
“If Congress passed a funding bill that tied the President’s hands on the immigration executive order, basically undid it or made it impossible to carry out, would the President veto such a bill?” asked ABC’s reporter Jonathan Karl.
“Yes,” stated Earnest unequivocally.
“So the President is willing to see the government shut down – if Congress does not – tries to ties his hands on immigration?” asked Karl.
“Well, Jon, you will be surprised to hear that I see it slightly differently,” chuckled Earnest. “I actually don’t believe that members of Congress, or at least a majority of members of Congress, are going to be willing to go along with an effort to shut down the government in protest over the President’s executive actions on immigration.”
“Sen. McConnell, the incoming Senate Majority Leader, said himself just a week or so after the election, ‘We will not be shutting the government down or threatening to default on the national debt,’” said Earnest. “I think that’s a pretty clear statement from among one of the most influential Republicans in Congress that a government shutdown is not in the offing here.”
In other words, if Congress intends to use its power of the purse, Obama is going to call that bluff.