On Friday, One of President Obama’s top advisers said that he expects House Republicans will file articles of impeachment against the president, according to Sam Stein, Dan Pfeiffer: White House Expects John Boehner To Try For Impeachment. Dan Pfeiffer, a senior aide with Obama since he first took office, told reporters he anticipated that a lawsuit filed by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) over executive actions taken by the president on health care would not be enough to satisfy some vocal conservative in Congress. Pfeiffer added that coming executive actions surrounding immigration will only help to stoke the impeachment fires. Speaking at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast, he said, “I think a lot of people in this town laugh that off. I would not discount that possibility. I think that Speaker Boehner, by going down this path of this lawsuit, has opened the door to Republicans possibly considering impeachment at some point in the future. I think impeachment is a very serious thing that has been bandied about by the recent Republican vice presidential nominee and others in a very unserious way. And no one has even made any allegation of anything that would be within six universes from what is generally considered in that space.” Boehner has said he has no interest in drafting articles of impeachment against the president. However Boehner’s spokesman Michael Steel email this response to Pfeiffer: “We have a humanitarian crisis at our border, and the White House is making matters worse with inattention and mixed signals. It is telling, and sad, that a senior White House official is focused on political games, rather than helping these kids and securing the border.” While Pfeiffer did talk about impeachment possibilities, he did discuss the crisis at the border during Friday’s breakfast. Joe Miller, running in the Republican primary for a chance to challenge Sen, Mark Begich (D-Alaska), called for the impeachment of Obama in his campaign this week, according to David McCabe, Senate Hopeful Joe Miller Calls For Obama’s Impeachment, Blasts Mark Begich Over Border. In a press release, Miller said: “Sarah Palin is right; it’s time to impeach this President for dereliction of duty, selectively enforcing the law, and usurping powers that the Constitution does not authorize. He is willfully undermining the rule of law and creating chaos.” Palin, the Alaskan governor who rose to fame as Sen. john McCain’s presidential running mate in 2008, has repeatedly called for Obama’s impeachment this summer.
With a week to go before the August recess, House Republicans have yet to offer a bill to address the border crisis while Obama address South American leaders on the crisis. Elise Foley reports, House Republicans Still Hashing Out Details Of Border Crisis Plan, on Friday that members hope to take up legislation next week providing less than $1 billion, down from $1.5 billion earlier this week, to deal with the more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors who have been apprehended crossing the U.S. border illegally since October. However, the funding is far below Obama’s $3.7 billion requested and thr Senate proposal for $2.7 billion. While most members agree something needs to be done, they haven’t finalized it yet. As Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) puts it: “There’s a lot of nervousness among a lot of the members about a lot of things. Some are nervous that we won’t do anything, some are nervous that we’ll do too much. … These conversations are always fascinating because you’ll start with a range of opinions about this far apart, and eventually you begin to see what the consensus is. We are not at that point yet.” Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) told reporters, “The problem is DACA. There’s a perception out there that’s it’s OK to do this and to pay someone money to take your child to America. And it’s just a wrong perception.” Rep. John Fleming (R-Fla.) said, “Let’s say theoretically it makes it all the way to the president’s desk and he signs it. It’ll be yet another law that the president will ignore and not enforce.” Rep. Charlie Dent (D-Pa.) said, “I believe there is consensus that we need to move a legislative package out of here before we leave next week. What’s going to be in that package, we’re going to be debating.” While Republicans try to come to some sort of resolution, President Obama met with Central American leaders Friday to urge them to slow the exodus of unaccompanied children from their countries, the Associated Press reports Obama to urge Central American leaders for help. Unfortunately with Senate Democrats opposed to policy changes to return kids quickly without judicial hearings, it looks unlikely that a deal will be agreed upon and sent to Obama’s desk in August. Friday’s White House meeting with the president of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador coincided with the administration possibly crating a pilot program to give young people from Honduras refugee status.
While the border crisis seems to be a hot button issue because of the August recess, the House has agreed upon one thing that the President cannot send more troops to Iraq without congressional approval. On Friday, the House passed a resolution to bar President Barack Obama from sending forces into Iraq in a sustained combat role without congress approving it first. The measure must still pass the Senate to force a shutdown with the president and risks opening up several questions related to the Constitution’s separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said, “This resolution makes one clear statement. If the president decides we should further involve our military in Iraq, he needs to work with Congress to authorize it. The time to debate our re-engagement in Iraq, should it come to that, is before we are caught in the heat of the moment. Not when the first body bags come home. Not when the first bombs start to fall. Not when the worst-case scenario is playing out on our TV screens.” More than 800 U.S. forces are in Iraq with more than half providing security for the embassy and U.S. personnel. In addition, American service members are involved in improving U.S. intelligence, providing security cooperation and conducting assessments of Iraqi capabilities. U.S. officials, according to the Washington Post, say the Sunni extremist calling themselves the Islamic State pose a threat to the American homeland as the group has expanded its base in Syria and seized a series of towns and cities in Iraq in recent months.