Washington, DC – Tonight President Obama announced a plan to use his executive authority to help address our nation’s broken immigration system. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the statement below regarding the President’s action:
“I worked for weeks in the Judiciary Committee to craft a strong bipartisan immigration bill supported by everyone from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to major labor unions, which passed the Committee and the Senate in bipartisan fashion last year. For months Speaker Boehner has refused to even take up the bill in the House, blocking bipartisan progress. After over 500 days of the Boehner blockade, the President is moving forward with a plan and giving House Republicans one last chance to do their jobs before his executive order takes effect. Our laws give him the clear authority to do so, and the people in Rhode Island and across the country who are suffering under the current system simply can’t afford to wait.”
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