e-News 11/21/14

• Immigration: The President Cannot Do What He Just Did
• Keystone Pipeline: Down But Not Out
• Condemning Iran’s Human Rights Record
• “NSA Reform That Only ISIS Could Love”
• Salute: Senator Bob Litell
• Salute: Morris County Sheriff’s Office

Immigration: The President Cannot Do What He Just Did

Last night, President Obama announced one of the biggest executive power grabs in American history. He declared unilaterally that millions of unlawful immigrants can stay in the U.S. without facing the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.

It is true that the Congress has not agreed on how to legislate reform of the immigration system.  But that does not mean, on a whim, the President can ignore the Constitution and alter existing U.S. law before Congress passes new statutes.

That’s not the way it works, and the President knows it.  In fact, the President has made many, many statements over the last few years about his inability to unilaterally change or ignore immigration law. By Speaker Boehner’s count, he admitted 22 times that he could not do what he just did.

Read the Speaker’s entire list here.

President Obama and I agree: the immigration system is broken, badly broken.  But we cannot begin to fix its many flaws if we do not first secure the border.  In a time of new terrorist threats and the spread of deadly diseases, this is a national security imperative!

Speaker Boehner was right when he wrote: President Obama should listen to President Obama, drop his plan to ‘expand the authority of the executive branch into murky, uncharted territory,’ and work with Congress rather than insisting on his stubborn, ‘my way or the highway’ approach.

Keystone Pipeline: Down But Not Out

Just a few days after passing the House by a strong bipartisan vote, the Senate narrowly failed to advance the job-creating Keystone XL Pipeline.  However, Senator Mitch McConnell, the incoming majority leader, has pledged to bring the bill back to the Senate floor in early 2015 when chances of final passage are improved.

The Administration has been "studying" the project for six years. The pipeline would move oil from Canada into the United States and eventually to the Texas Gulf Coast. It would create jobs and lessen America’s dependence on Middle East oil. A government environmental impact statement also predicts that a pipeline would result in less damage to the climate than moving the same oil by rail.

Condemning Iran’s Human Rights Record

With my support, this week the House condemned the inhumane actions of the Iranian government -- including its violence against women and religious minorities.  Read more about House Resolution 754 here.

Among its important provisions, the resolution calls on Iran to “comply with its international and domestic obligations on human rights and civil liberties.”   

Iran’s compliance with other important obligations is the subject of negotiations in Vienna right now.  The deadline for a pivotal accord regarding Iran’s nuclear program is early next week. Any agreement must include a rigorous, immediate and objective inspections regime, one designed to halt Iranian nuclear capabilities both now and in the future. 

Five issues to watch in these key negotiations can be found here.

“NSA Reform That Only ISIS Could Love”

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former U.S. Attorney-General Michael Mukasey wrote an on-target op ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday on Congressional efforts to change the way the our intelligence community collects information with which to better protect Americans and our national security.  Please read their column here.

Salute - the long and distinguished service of Sussex County’s StateSenator Bob Littell who was laid to rest this week.  A former Marine, I had the pleasure of working with him as chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee.  When he retired from the Senate in 2008, Bob had contributed 40 years of his life to improving the lives of New Jersey residents, supporting businesses large and small and protecting our communities.

Salute – to the Morris County Sheriff’s Office which celebrates its 275^th Anniversary this weekend.  Thank for you for keeping our communities safe.