Boehner: Vote To Defund Amnesty ‘Not About The Issue Of Immigration,’ About ‘Overreach’

House Republican’s effort to defund President Obama’s executive amnesty is not about immigration as much as it is about reining in the executive branch, Speaker John Boehner argues.

“We’re voting to block the president’s overreach,” Boehner told reporters on Tuesday, when asked about the potential impact on the Latino vote. “His executive overreach, which I believe is beyond his constitutional duty and frankly violates the Constitution itself. This is not about the issue of immigration. What it is is about the president acting lawlessly.”

Wednesday the House is expected to vote on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which expires in February. House Republicans plan to attach a series of amendments to the appropriations bill that would block Obama’s executive orders on immigration.

“This week the House will act to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security through appropriations while blocking the president’s unilateral action with regard to immigration,” Boehner explained.

Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) described the plan’s further legislation to “reestablish the rule of law making it clear it is the Congress, not the White House who writes immigration laws.”

Monday evening the White House threatened to veto the DHS funding bill if it included provisions that would block Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

“The President looks forward to working with the Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform and an appropriations bill funding the Department of Homeland Security that is free from ideological provisions,” the White House explained in a statement of administrative policy.

When pressed on whether he would allow a funding bill free of provisions to block Obama’s orders to come to the floor, Boehner did not commit one way or the other, instead reiterating that his conference’s goals are to fund DHS and stop Obama’s “executive overreach.”

“This is not the way our government was intended to work,” he said. “The president said 22 times that he did not have the authority to do what he eventually did. He knows the truth here and so do the American people and our job is to listen to the American people and hold the president accountable.”