Paul calls for House resolution and lawsuit against Obama actions

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday night that the House should pass a resolution opposing President Obama’s immigration executive action, setting up a lawsuit against him. 

“What I would recommend to the House is, they should immediately pass a resolution saying that what he is doing is contrary to the will of the House of Representatives,” Paul said on Fox News. “That would set up, I think, a very clear-cut case in the court.”

Republicans have been searching for a way to stop Obama’s immigration actions, set to be announced in a speech Thursday night.

Paul, a likely presidential candidate, has a strategy that differs from another possible 2016 hopeful, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Cruz’s plan calls for blocking Obama’s nominees in the Senate, until he reverses course, as well as including language blocking the actions in spending bills. 

Paul is opting instead for the lawsuit route, which has also been floated by other Republicans. He cites a prominent Supreme Court case from the 1950s, Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, in which the court laid out that a president’s executive power is diminished, if he is acting against the will of Congress. Therefore, Paul says the House should make its opposite view clear through a resolution.

“It may take a while to get him,” Paul said. “But the thing is, history will treat him unkindly on this if he thinks he can become king.”

In addition to a possible lawsuit, House Republicans have been weighing options through their spending power, while wary of a government shutdown. The options include separating out funding for immigration and including language blocking the action, or passing the funding and then rescinding funding for the immigration section.  

Paul said he is willing to make some changes on immigration policy. 

“I have always been in favor of securing the border first, doing some things to increase work permits,” he said. “For example, there’s a couple of bills that are very uncontroversial, and I’m for passing them immediately in January, and I think we may do this.”

He cited a measure to increase the number of visas for high-skilled workers. 

Obama’s action could include measures for high-skilled workers, but it is also expected to include an expansion of deportation deferrals, possibly to parents of children who are U.S. citizens.