House Republicans approved legislation Wednesday that would undercut President Barack Obama's immigration actions and voted to roll back protections for children brought into the country illegally.
Republicans in Congress, who have threatened retaliation against the White House since the president announced his immigration initiatives last November, voted to block Obama's executive actions with language included in a nearly $40 billion funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.
"We do not take this action lightly, but there is simply no alternative. This is not a dispute between parties, or even branches of government," Boehner said on the House floor. "The president's overreach is an affront to the rule of law and the Constitution itself."
House GOP passed the spending bill in 236 to 190 vote with just ten Republicans voting against it.
The legislation will strip funding for the president’s plan that could allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay in the country legally. Republicans argue the president's unilateral actions are unconstitutional and last year vowed to respond once the new Congress commenced.
But an amendment to undo a policy that gives children brought here illegally the chance to stay in the country, which passed by a 218 to 209 vote, complicates the chances of the legislation passing the GOP-led Senate. Moderate Republicans, as well as those eying potential White House runs in 2016, are hesitant to approve a measure that Democrats argue unjustly punishes children who have done nothing wrong.
Twenty-six Republicans in the House voted against the amendment.
The White House has threatened to veto the legislation if it passes the Senate.
-- Andrew Rafferty, Alex Moe and Luke Russert