Republicans divided on response to Obama's immigration order

WASHINGTON -- Republicans outraged at President Barack Obama's executive order on immigration weighed filing a lawsuit, trying to block funding for the move or advancing immigration measures of their own. But the party was divided Friday, and Obama's veto pen seemed to give him the upper hand.

Less than three weeks since they retook the Senate in midterm elections and amassed a historic majority in the House, Republicans found themselves with no obvious response to Obama's announcement that he will curb deportations for as many as 5 million people in the United States illegally.

GOP leaders tried to tamp down talk of impeachment or a government shutdown.

"We're working with our members, looking at the options that are available to us, but I will say to you: The House will, in fact, act," House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said at a news conference. "We will not stand idle as the president undermines the rule of law and places lives at risk. . . . He's damaging the presidency itself."

Obama said at a Las Vegas high school Friday that he has "a simple answer" for Republicans: "Pass a bill."

Obama said only Congress can enact the broad legislation that would permanently change immigration laws and help the more than 11 million immigrants illegally in the United States. But he had to act, Obama said, because "our immigration system has been broken for a very long time" and "we haven't done much about" fixing it.

Republicans acknowledged that any legislative solution they settled on would be subject to a veto by Obama that they could not likely overturn.

Party leaders were determined to avoid repeating last year's tea party-driven partial government shutdown over Obama's health care law. But some in their ranks favored using must-pass spending legislation to stop the president.

Boehner, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Republicans are casting about for a way to satisfy the most conservative lawmakers without overreacting and alienating Hispanic and moderate voters who will be critical for the 2016 election.

A handful of the most conservative House members, including Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama and Steve King of Iowa, said impeachment should be on the table as a last resort.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala)., a fierce opponent of Obama's actions, told the conservative Heritage Foundation on Friday, "We are not going to impeach." He said Congress could target its power on spending against the immigration initiative.

The chairman of the House Appropriations, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), argued it is impossible to "defund" the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services because it pays for itself with application fees.

That's angered some tea party conservatives who charged that establishment Republicans were just looking for a way out of a confrontation.

"They're contriving red herring arguments to get to the point where enough members will walk out of this Congress and go home for Thanksgiving and say, 'Well, there's nothing we can do,' " said King, of Iowa.

Another option was advancing immigration legislation, something the GOP-run House has failed to do for more than a year after the Senate passed a bipartisan bill including a path to citizenship. Homeland Security Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said a border security bill written by his committee might move early next year.