Scott Powers
Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to use executive orders on border security, immigration and disaster relief if he concludes Congressional Democrats’ won’t seriously negotiate in the new round of budget talks.
Scott made the declaration during a media availability as he pressed his own priorities for border security and permanent solutions for immigrants tied up in the uncertain statuses the Delayed Action Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status programs.
“President Trump has tried to work with Congress to get something done, but if the Democrats continue to refuse to work with him, then the President needs to use his emergency powers to fund border security and include a permanent solution for DACA and TPS,” Scott said.
Scott conceded he had been sharply critical of Democratic President Barack Obama when he sought to solve the DACA situation by emergency order, but defended Trump’s position as “logical.”
“I know there will be critics that say the President shouldn’t do things like this by executive order. And they aren’t necessarily wrong,” Scott said. “I was critical of Obama when he tried to solve the DACA issue by EO. President Trump proposed logical solutions, and if the Democrats won’t negotiate with him because their judgement is clouded by their pure hatred of him, then the President needs to move forward. These are common sense issues, and it’s time to provide a real solution for the American people.”
As in other recent statements, Scott avoided making references to money for a border wall, which has been Trump’s top priority on border security. A border wall also is something Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have adamantly refused to include in a funding bill.
Still, last week the two sides agreed to a temporary funding bill without a wall, DACA, TPS or disaster relief to keep things going while the two sides discuss a longer-term solution. They have until Feb. 15.
Scott also acknowledged that Democrats and Republicans are now sitting down to talk about compromises.
“What we don’t know is whether the Democrats are serious about getting a deal done to fund border security, or if they’re just following Nancy Pelosi’s marching orders,” Scott said. “I’m ready to see a final package that includes real border security, a permanent fix for DACA and TPS, and the disaster relief funding Florida and Puerto Rico need to continue rebuilding.
2 comments
Larry Gillis, Executive Committee, Libertarian party of Florida
January 31, 2019 at 6:28 pm
This should be an object lesson to all of us, reminding us that we have overloaded the federal Executive with simply too much discretion. Here, a massive works program that involves over five billion dollars of taxpayer money should be the subject of direct legislative appropriation. It should not be able to be cobbled together within the Executive by raiding various budgets and by using Executive discretion previously vested in the President by an inattentive Congress.
This is analogous, in its own way, to the massive discretion given federal prosecutors, who can “pile on” charge after charge, with overlapping crimes, because an inattentive Congress has mindlessly abandoned legislative oversight responsibilities.
Under a Libertarian regime, this simply would not happen, and the dangerous surrender of Constitutional checks-and-balances could begin to get restored. So, vote Libertarian next time.
Carlos
February 1, 2019 at 12:36 am
I voted as a Democrat for 35 years, but I have since realized that I was voting for people socialist Comunista such as Luis Gutierrez, Nidia Velásquez, Carmen Yulin, Aníbal Acevedo Vila, and Alejandro Garcia Padilla…Democrats that go against what I’m fighting for (Statehood and Equality for Puerto Rico 🇵🇷) I now define myself as a Republican supporting Statehood for my island.
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