Congress Makes Laws, Not the President

Washington, D.C. – House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) released the following statement on House passage of H.R. 5759, the Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act:

“The structure and stability of our democratic system depends upon the President executing the laws passed by Congress—not unilaterally rewriting them. Today, the House made it very clear what the President is constitutionally and legally obligated to do. The Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act reaffirms in the most explicit terms that the President does not, in fact, have the authority to exempt whole categories of people who are in the United States illegally. In the past, prosecutorial discretion has been used sparingly, on a case-by-case basis, and not on such a large scale. By implementing this executive action, the President knowingly violated the will of Congress and of the American people. By continuing to ignore the will of Congress, the President is exacerbating a constitutional crisis. 

“This is not a partisan issue. Both Democrats and Republicans agree that this is about a President who has gone beyond his constitutional authority. I urge the Senate to consider this bill, and I especially urge the Democrat senators who have spoken out against the President’s actions—such as Senators Manchin, McCaskill, Donnelly, and Heitkamp—to stand with the House and resist this unconstitutional expansion of executive power.”