Kudos to Aurora Sentinel for noticing that Coffman’s vote against Dreamers undermines Coffman’s own legislation

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

One of the ways Rep. Mike Coffman has been trying to boost his appeal to Hispanic voters is by waving around his legislation offering a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants, if they enlist in the U.S. military.

Coffman’s been talking a lot about his bill, which stipulates that, before being accepted by the U.S. military, undocumented immigrants should be screened and possess documents obtained through the President Obama’s “deferred action” program, established through executive order.

Under Obama’s order, law-abiding undocumented immigrants, who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents, are issued work permits, and their deportation from the U.S. is officially deferred.

But in June, Coffman voted to defund Obama’s deferred-action program, potentially undermining Coffman’s own bill.

This inconsistency went unnoticed, as far as I can tell, until yesterday, when the Aurora Sentinel’s Aaron Cole pointed out in a news story:

In June 2013, Coffman voted alongside other House Republicans to defund a key program in the Obama administration’s plan for young immigrants. Coffman joined Colorado and House Republicans in voting to lift the executive order for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status. Coffman’s plan for military service as a path to citizenship for enlisted military members relies first on the applicant to receive DACA status.

“I think that what the president … did exceeded the boundaries of the Constitution,” Coffman said. “These things have no basis in law and the President doesn’t have the ability to legislate.”

As one of the most endangered members of Congress, Coffman has been under scrutiny by local and national reporters. But until yesterday, no journalist, including me, apparently noticed that if Coffman had his way and Obama’s deferred-action program was eliminated, Coffman’s proposed law couldn’t be implemented.

Kudos to the Aurora Sentinel for its scoop on this.

View the original article here

Coffman may take personal legal action against Obama

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Rep. Mike Coffman announced Tues. that he may file a personal lawsuit against President Barack Obama over what Coffman sees as Obama's abuse of power.

Speaking on KHOW radio's Mandy Connell show, Coffman said America is in a "Constitutional crisis" due to Obama's "abuse of waving the so-called magic wand of this prosecutorial discretion."

Obama is "creating new law by not enforcing existing law, without going through Congress, a co-equal branch of government," Coffman said on air. (Listen to Coffman say, on KHOW 11-26-13, that he's considering legal action against Obama.)

"My office is engaged in the legal research right now of how do we take on the Administration," said Coffman on the radio. "It appears right now that we may have to do it, that I may have to do it, or somebody may have to do it, as an individual, outside of Congress, to litigate on one of these issues, the constitutionality. And I think you can litigate on one of them and establish a precedent that impacts all of them."

On the radio, Coffman was unclear about the specific instances of prosecutorial discretion would be the focus of his legal action.

In June, Coffman voted to strip "Dreamers," undocumented immigrants brought to this country illegally by their parents, of work permits and start deporting them, because, Coffman said, Obama over-stepped his authority in allowing immigration officials to defer deportation of them. (Yet, Coffman is also opposed to comprehensive-immigration-reform legislation, passed by Senate Republicans and Democrats, and he has yet to propose a specific plan that he would support.)

On KHOW, Coffman said he believes Obama exceeded his authority in lifting "certain elements of the [Iran] sanctions," in deciding that governors had some discretion under the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, and in implementing Obamacare.

One wonders what else Coffman is thinking of. Relaxing some federal drug enforcement measures relating to Colorado's marijuana statutes? (unlikely since Coffman has signed on to a bill allowing banks to conduct business with dispensaries). Maybe Coffman is also upset about Coffman's approach to DOMA?

Reporters might explore the irony that Coffman is wasting time with a hail-Mary lawsuit trying to stop Obama from getting stuff done via executive orders, which Obama has arguably been forced to use thanks to Coffman and his fellow obstructionist House Republicans.

Partial Transcript of Rep. Mike Coffman's Appearance on KHOW Nov. 26, 2013

Listen to Coffman say, on KHOW 11-26-13, that he's considering legal action against Obama

Coffman: I think this country is in a Constitutional crisis because of this President's ability or abuse of waving the so-called magic wand of this prosecutorial discretion, and basically creating law by not enforcing existing law, creating new law by not enforcing existing law, without going through Congress, a co-equal branch of government.

Connell: …One of my great frustrations with the Republicans DC is that there does not seem to be a concerted effort to push back against these exact Constitutional abuses that you are talking about. Is this something that comes up in the Caucus about if there's any strategy. There has to be some way to tell the President of the United States that he cannot just on a whim choose to enforce or not enforce pieces of legislation that have been created by the Congress.

Coffman: My office is engaged in the legal research right now of how do we take on the Administration It appears right now that we may have to do it, that I may have to do it, or somebody may have to do it, as an individual, outside of Congress, to litigate on one of these issues, the constitutionality. And I think you can litigate on one of them and establish a precedent that impacts all of them.

View the original article here

“I am absolutely against raising the debt limit, period, end of story.”

(You expected something from Ken Buck besides "burn baby burn?" – promoted by Colorado Pols)

2010 GOP Senate nominee Ken Buck.

KLZ radio's afternoon drive show, Grassroots Radio Colorado, deserves to be recognized as a regular news breaker. That is, for the five of us who are already following next year's election.

The show broke news again in an Aug. 27 interview with U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck, when Buck said he's "absolutely against raising the debt limit, period, end of story."

Buck reiterated the point later in the interview:

Buck: "I’m not going to vote in any way to allow a[n] increase in the debt ceiling."

Listen to Ken Buck say he's "absolutely" against raising the debt limit

Strangely enough, Buck used a question about the budget bill to state his position on the debt ceiling, but it's hard to believe that Buck confused the debt ceiling with the continuing-resolution budget bill.

In any case, all of Colorado's congressional candidates should be answering questions from real reporters about the debt limit, as we approach next week's Oct. 17 deadline for the U.S. to extend it or begin defaulting on our country's debts.

With the stakes so high (stock market gyrations, U.S. credit-rating downgrade, economic slowdown), it's a topic reporters should address with all federal candidates, even though the election is so far away.

Last month, Buck told KNUS radio's Jimmy Sengenberger that it's "legitimate" for the U.S. House to shut down the government to stop Obamacare.

Partial transcript of Ken Buck's interview on KLZ's Grassroots Radio Colorado Sept. 27.

Ken Clark: [talking about Ted Cruz and his 21 hour speech on Senate floor] it wasn’t technically a filibuster. And then you had the vote on cloture today, okay? Where do you stand?

Buck: Where do I stand? I am absolutely against raising the debt limit, period, end of story. This country has too much debt. It has too much spending. We have taxed our people enough. We have not – we have overspent, not overtaxed. So, we need to get back to – actually, here’s a concept for both of you. You ready for this? You sitting down? Thank you, very much. How about let’s pass a budget in the United States Senate. Would that be a –

Clark: What if – what if — ?

Buck: [facetiously] Okay, we lost somebody! We’ve got a fainter, over here!

Clark: What’s a budget?

Buck: We got –. No kidding! What’s a budget? And Mark Udall –

Clark: I’ve never heard of it.

Buck: Mark Udall and Barak Obama have not passed a budget in a house of the United States Congress that they control now, for six years. How on Earth is that possible?

Co-host Jason Worley: But they’re pretty good at voting against Obama, which makes you laugh –

Clark: But, wait a minute! I thought it was all done by Continuing Resolution.

Buck: Yeah. And that’s the problem. All we do is this ‘stop and start’ kind of nonsense, and we need to actually plan on how we’re going to reduce this deficit over the next ten years, and have a plan in place. And that’s what I would focus on.

Clark: All right. Very good. So, how would you have voted on the cloture pay?

Buck: Well, I’m not going to vote in any way to allow a[n] increase in the debt ceiling.

Listen to Ken Buck say he's "absolutely" against raising the debt limit.

View the original article here