This morning on CNN, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said that House Republicans who have opposed measures to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because they haven’t also rolled back President Obama’s executive action on immigration need to be louder and stand behind their leader Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio).
“We haven’t made the case strong enough. We know it’s unconstitutional and we know it’s unfair,” Jordan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Jordan, the chairman of the new conservative House Freedom Caucus, was among conservative lawmakers who signed a letter last week to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) urging him to not cave on the DHS funding issue.
“We do want to fund that agency. We understand the terrorist threat out there,” Jordan maintained, challenging Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to allow the Senate and House to reconcile plans, potentially including defunding Obama’s actions.
The House passed a one-week measure to fund DHS late Friday, setting up another debate over the issue in the coming week.
“We’re willing to sit down and try to work out the differences. That’s all we’re asking for,” Jordan said.
The conservative lawmaker played down a potential coup against Boehner should the Speaker introduce a “clean” funding bill for DHS that does not include measures to roll back Obama’s executive actions, saying he was “most interested” in upholding the Constitution.
“That’s not gonna happen. That’s not the issue.”
Meanwhile, Sunday morning on ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) blasted his Republican colleagues for refusing to pass a clean bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
“This madness has to end soon. We can’t keep doing this,” he told Martha Raddatz
After House Republicans failed to pass a bill funding DHS for three weeks, Democrats helped House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pass a bill funding the department for one week.
King blamed Republicans’ refusal to pass a clean bill on the “wing within our party who is obsessed with the president’s executive order.”
“We should not put American lives at risk to win an immigration battle with the president,” King said. “I’ve had it with this self-righteous, delusional wing of the party.”
The congressman said that he also opposes President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, but that he believes funding DHS is more important.
“Many of these people are elected from parts of the country that live in an echo chamber,” he lamented. “All they hear is everything is anti-Obama.”
 said that House Republicans who have opposed measures to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)){kind=link}