Who knew Speaker John Boehner moonlighted as a comedian?
During a Sunday morning show yesterday, Boehner said President Obama was the one to blame for the lack of immigration reform last Congress.
“He’s stirred up the American people in such a way that it would almost be impossible to do immigration reform, given the environment that we’re dealing with,” Boehner said.
“I want to do immigration reform, and the President knows it. I asked the President about a year ago, gave him some ideas about things that should happen if he wanted to do immigration reform, and some things that he shouldn’t do.”
“Well, the President didn’t take my advice. And he doubled down on the executive orders that, frankly, far exceeded his authority, and the courts have got him stopped. He’s really poisoned the well.”
This hilarity comes just a few weeks after Boehner reportedly told an Irish audience that immigration reform was still at the top of his agenda, too.
Of course, Boehner seems to have forgotten to tell that to his caucus when he got back home, because Republicans have failed to resurrect any serious talks of comprehensive immigration reform after taking total control of Congress this past election.
And of course, Boehner’s claim that he’s wanted “to do immigration reform” is bogus, and we know this because when Boehner actually had the best opportunity in a generation to pass it, a House bill languished on his desk for over 500 days, even though it had the support of the American public, 200 House cosponsors, and enough support from both sides of the aisle to pass.
The truth is that Boehner, caving to Steve King and the fringe anti-immigrant nativists of the House, lacked any sort of courage and refused to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
Meanwhile, the only immigration-related votes Boehner actually has allowed are King’s mass-deportation votes to kick out DREAMers and the immigrant parents of American citizens. So much for “I want to do immigration reform,” right?
As the most powerful person in the House of Representatives, Boehner has the power to call a vote on immigration reform any time he likes — and every year since 2012, he’s been insisting he wants to get it done — yet we’ve seen no bravery from the Speaker.
As Frank Sharry said last December: “If Speaker Boehner and the House GOP refuse to call the vote, it will reveal an uncomfortable truth: the nativist wing of the GOP is calling the shots on immigration, and Speaker Boehner is more interested in keeping his job than in delivering comprehensive immigration reform to the nation.”
