The Senate is being sent an immigration bill by the House of Representatives that attempts to put the blocks on the executive action taken by President Obama with regard to immigration reform. Republican Senator Jeff Sessions has challenged Senate Democrats over where their loyalties lie – with the president or with the American people.
Just a few hours after the House of Representatives passed a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that included amendments designed to block Obama’s executive action on immigration reform, Sessions issued a statement challenging his Democratic colleagues. “This vote represents one of the most important constitutional votes that has ever come before this body,” Sessions claims. “I would encourage every Senate Democrat to pause and consider this question before acting: to whom do you owe your allegiance? To party leaders, to donors, to the citizens of other countries, or to the American citizens who elected you and the Constitution that protects their rights?”
Since control of the Senate was seized by the Republican Party two months ago, back in November, the fight over US immigration reform has a different narrative; however, the party’s new power is still not enough to vote on the bill if Democrats in the House decide to filibuster.
Sessions claims that he is sending the Democrats a message on behalf of the neglected American public and the Republican Party as a whole, while reiterating the allegation that the president’s executive actions are unlawful.