{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=49908423-ba38-468f-957f-ea37921a3d04", "McConnell: Congress Will Act if President Issues Immigration Order", "2014-11-20", "2014", "2014-11", "Republican", "House", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement regarding the President\u2019s proposed executive action on immigration:\r\n\u201cI\u2019d like to say a few words this morning about President Obama\u2019s proposed executive action on immigration.\r\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ll begin with a quote from the President. \u2018Democracy is hard,\u2019 he said during a commencement speech in Miami three years ago. \u201cBut it\u2019s right. [And] changing our laws means doing the hard work of changing minds and changing votes, one by one.\u201d\r\n\u201cAs someone who well understands just how difficult the work of changing minds and votes can be, I couldn\u2019t agree more with the President\u2019s statement.\u201d\r\n\u201cAmericans accept that democracy\u2019s blessings are only made possible by the constraints it imposes \u2014 both its legal contours and those imposed by popular election. We accept democracy\u2019s messiness. We accept that we may not always get all of what we want exactly when we want it. And based on more of what the President said in Miami, this is something he seemed to understand too.\u201d\r\n\u201cHe was talking about immigration that day, and here\u2019s something else he said on the topic. \u2018I know [that] some\u2026 wish that I could just bypass Congress and change the law myself. But that\u2019s not how democracy works.\u2019\r\n\u201cIndeed, it isn\u2019t.\r\n\u201cAll of which makes the President\u2019s planned executive action on immigration even more jarring.\r\n\u201cIf the President truly follows through on this attempt to impose his will unilaterally, he will have issued a rebuke to his own stated view of democracy. And he will have contradicted his past statements on this very issue.\r\n\u201cThe instances of President Obama saying that he does not have the power to do the kinds of things he now plans to do are almost too numerous to list. He tried to suggest otherwise last weekend. But a prominent fact-checker panned the spin as \u2018Pinocchio-laden\u2019 and clarified that the President has been asked \u2018specifically\u2026[about] the sorts of actions that he is contemplating now.\u2019 The President\u2019s previous answers seemed to be unequivocal: he lacked the legal authority to act.\r\n\u201cAs just one example, President Obama said last year that executive action was \u2018not an option\u2019 because \u2018[he] would be ignoring the law.\u2019 \u2018There is a path to get this done,\u2019 he said, \u2018and that is through Congress.\u2019\r\n\u201cHe\u2019s right. The action he\u2019s proposed would ignore the law, would reject the voice of the voters, and would impose new unfairness on law-abiding immigrants \u2014 all without solving the problem. In fact, his action is more likely to make it even worse.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already seen the consequences of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, his most recent action in this area. It was a factor in encouraging young people to risk their lives on a perilous journey some would never complete.\r\n\u201cThe effects of this action could be just as tragic.\r\n\u201cJust as the \u2018Affordable Care Act\u2019 had little to do with making health care more affordable, slapping the term \u201cimmigration reform\u201d on something doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s actually immigration reform.\r\n\u201cAnd just as with Obamacare, the action the President is proposing isn\u2019t about solutions.\r\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t about compassion.\r\n\u201cIt seems to be about what a political party thinks would make for good politics.\r\n\u201cIt seems to be about what a President thinks would be good for his legacy.\r\n\u201cThose are not the motivations that should be driving such sweeping action. And I think the President will come to regret the chapter history writes if he does move forward.\r\n\u201cBecause the plan he\u2019s presenting is more than just, as the President himself has acknowledged, an overreach \u2014 it\u2019s also unfair.\r\n\u201cWhat does the President have to say to the countless aspiring immigrants who\u2019ve spent years waiting patiently in line? To the people who\u2019ve played by all the rules?\r\n\u201cWhere is his compassion for them?\r\n\u201cWhat does the President have to say to the millions of Americans who still can\u2019t find work in this economy? The President can\u2019t reach across the aisle to secure a serious jobs plan for them, but he\u2019s willing to put everything he\u2019s got into this one executive action?\r\n\u201cWhere is the justice in that?\r\n\u201cThere is a larger point here too.\r\n\u201cSome people seem to have forgotten this already, but we just had an election.\r\n\u201cBefore that election, the President told us about his plan to act unilaterally on immigration.\r\n\u201cHe reminded us that his policies were on the ballot.\r\n\u201cAnd then the people spoke.\r\n\u201cThe President doesn\u2019t have to like the result, but he has a duty to respect it.\r\n\u201cThe American people sent a message. They said they want to see us working together. They said they want to see more serious ideas pass through Congress.\r\n\u201cWhat they didn\u2019t say they wanted to see was the President sidestepping the very representatives they just elected.\r\n\u201cThat\u2019s why so many Kentuckians have been calling my office in opposition to this plan. I know phones have continued to ring off the hook all week in other offices across Capitol Hill.\r\n\u201cOur constituents want to be heard. President Obama needs to listen to their voices.\r\n\u201cIf nothing else, perhaps the President will at least consider the views of the Democrat Senators and Members of Congress who\u2019ve urged him not to do this. These Democrats understand the consequences of a President from a different political party citing this precedent in the future.\r\n\u201cEither way, he needs to understand something.\r\n\u201cIf President Obama acts in defiance of the people and imposes his will on the country, Congress will act.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re considering a variety of options. But make no mistake. When the newly elected representatives of the people take their seats, they will act.\r\n\u201cLook: As the President has said, democracy is hard.\r\n\u201cImposing his will unilaterally may seem tempting. It may serve him politically in the short term. But he knows that it will make an already-broken system even more broken.\r\n\u201cAnd he knows that this is not how democracy is supposed to work. Because he told us so himself.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=49908423-ba38-468f-957f-ea37921a3d04"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6899910513311625, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}