Cruz: Make Senate Vote on Constitutionality of Exec Amnesty

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) attempted to push the US Senate to vote on whether it considers President Obama’s executive action on immigration to be constitutional in a speech on the Senate floor on government funding on Friday.

Cruz cited “Saturday Night Live’s” sketch about the president’s executive action before declaring “the president is ignoring the basic checks and balances of our Constitution and trying instead to decree the law. That is unconstitutional, and a portion of this bill that has been sent over from the House of Representatives funds the Department of Homeland Security to carry out that unconstitutional action.”

Cruz then made a “constitutional point of order” against the provisions that funded the executive action, arguing they violated the vesting clauses of Article I, Section I, Article II, Section II, Article I, Section VIII, and Article II, Section III of the US Constitution. The point of order could not be brought to a vote because a motion to refer was pending, so no other actions could be taken. 

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