House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi praised former President George W. Bush on immigration while criticizing Speaker John Boehner's planned lawsuit against President Barack Obama.
"He was so great on immigration, President George W. Bush,"
The Huffington Post reported from Pelosi’s weekly press briefing. "He cautioned in this debate to be respectful of the people that we're talking about. That's really not what's happening right now."
Pelosi’s remarks came amid news that the GOP intends to sue Obama for violating his oath of office by failing to "faithfully execute the laws of our country" and resorting to the use of executive orders as a means to get around Congress to promote his own agenda,
according to Politico.
Pelosi characterized the purported legal action as an act of "subterfuge," designed to distract the American people from Republicans’ inaction in Congress.
"They are doing nothing here so they have to give some aura of activity," she said, according to Politico.
Pelosi came to the president’s defense,
The Hill reported, arguing that he resorted to executive action on extending deferred action for those who came to the United States as children because Congress has failed to pass an immigration reform bill. Obama has also used his executive powers to extend family leave to same-sex couples and bar federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees.
In January, Obama announced he'd be issuing more executive orders "to bypass a gridlocked and dysfunctional Congress," according to
Washington Post political data journalist Christopher Ingraham, who notes that Obama has resorted to such orders fewer times than any president since Grover Cleveland.
"President Obama issues an executive order, on average, about every 11 days," according to research by the
Brookings Institute. "President George W. Bush issued them every 10 days. President Reagan issued about one a week. President Carter issued more than one every five days."
Boehner, an Ohio Republican, says the president needs to be held accountable for his actions.
"This is not about impeachment," Boehner said, according to
The Huffington Post. "This is about his faithfully executing the laws of our country."
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