Political Quotes

On the recordDecember 16, 2013
I spoke a bit earlier in relation to the nomination of Jeh Johnson to be Secretary of Homeland Security. It is an important department with 240,000 employees, and includes the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, TSA airport personnel, and ICE officers who enforce immigration laws, our Border Patrol officers who patrol the border, the Citizenship and Immigration Service which evaluates and approves or disapproves people who apply for admission to the United States, and agency after agency. I have watched many of these complex departments and do not believe they have been brought together to the degree they ought to be, and it hasn't had the kind of strong leadership it needs to have to be effective for the American people. In addition to that, we have the difficulty that this administration has basically told the immigration component of Homeland Security--one of its largest components--that they shouldn't do their job. They have been blocked and instructed not to enforce the law to a degree that Professor Turley said represents an unacceptable alteration of the Madisonion understanding of the separation of powers. In other words, the President is charged with the duty to enforce law, to see that the laws of the United States are faithfully enforced. He is not given the power to flatly direct his officers not to enforce laws of the Congress. I am sure Mr. Johnson has many abilities.…
Said by
Pete Sessions
Republican · Texas

Share

More from Pete Sessions

Mar 8, 2023

The Federal Government is not at work. The Federal Government is not producing the results that we think would be necessary.

congress.gov
Nov 28, 2023

the reason why we get specific about these items on both sides of the aisle is that we find that there is happy-talk conversation between us, and then something different appears

congress.gov
May 21, 2024

It is also President Biden who finds himself at the vise grip of employees who decide that they do not like his policies related to Gaza.

congress.gov
Sep 3, 2024

We think we have to make it work, and we think in Congress, we have got to work together to make that work.

congress.gov

Other voices in this conversation