Senate Dems block bill to undo Obama’s immigration actions

by Jordain Carney - 02/27/15 12:20 PM ET

Senate Democrats on Friday prevented a bill from being taken up that would have rolled back President Obama’s 2014 executive actions on immigration.

The legislation, which failed by a 57-42 vote, focused on undoing two new immigration programs launched by Obama late last year while allowing a 2012 initiative, which focused on younger immigrants, to survive.

Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) voted with Republicans in support of the legislation.

Republican leadership tried this week to pressure Senate Democrats who have previously raised concerns about Obama’s actions into supporting the measure.

{mosads}The move provided “Democrats who led constituents to believe there was executive overreach with a chance to show they were at least a little bit serious when they said that,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said from the Senate floor ahead of the vote.

While Donnelly and Manchin said ahead of the vote they would support the proposal, others used the debate to renew a call for comprehensive immigration reform.

“While I still believe Congress needs to act, I think we need to keep the executive actions in place until we do, and I will not support any legislative efforts to undo President Obama’s executive actions,” Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said on Tuesday. “Once we pass a bill into law to fund the Department of Homeland Security, we can take a step forward and help a lot more people by passing comprehensive immigration reform.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) pledged that, despite Friday’s failed vote, he would continue to work to undo Obama’s executive actions. “We will continue to fight to stop the president’s illegal, unilateral changes to immigration policy, standing with the American people and fighting for the rule of law in the face of the President’s lawlessness,” he said in a statement.