. >> is it even functionally amnesty? >> the current situation amounts to amnesty.e want people to be accountable to come out of the shadows, get on the books, and pay taxes for the three-year period of deferred action. >> thank you mr. secretary. i have another question. does this represent a permanent solution, this executive action, in your opinion? >> no, and let me say again, i would welcome the opportunity to work with the members of this committee who i know are interested in immigration reform on both sides of the aisle. unfortunately, since i have been in office, we -- we have not had a willing partner in the house of representatives, but i continue to want to work with members of this committee and members of the house, and members of the congress on a comprehensive immigration reform piece of legislation. because you are correct. this is not a permanent solution, but it is in our existing legal authority to issue, to fix the broken system, and we feel that we have no choice. >> mr. secretary, general barry mcaffrey served as a witness during a border secu

>> n >> is it functionally amnesty? >> it doesn't look like these kind of questions are going to end. tell us about the votes co up. >> we're not exactly sure how republicans are going to address the issue, but one thing we do know is both houses of congress need to pass a government spending bill by december 11th in order to keep the government open. many republicans, especially on the conservative side would like to use that as a way to express some kind of displeasure with the president's executive action. they're obviously very opposed to it. what we may end up seeing, and house speaker john boehner said no decisions have been made about what they're going to do in the house. they may end up voting to express disapproval this week and some involvement for the department of homeland security. >> senator rand paul says he is planning to run for re-election. what does that mean as far as his presidential plans? >> well, he did make an announcement about 2016, but not what you're thinking of. he said he is going to run

. >> not legally -- is it even functionally amnesty? >> the current -- the current situation amounts to amnesty. we want people to be accountable, to come out of the shadows, get on the books, and pay taxes for the three-year period of deferred action. >> thank you mr. secretary. i have another question. does this represent a permanent solution this executive order, in your opinion? >> no. and let me say again, i would welcome the opportunity to work with the members of this committee who i know are interested in immigration reform on both sides of the aisle. unfortunately, since i've been in office, we have not had a willing partner in the house of representatives. but i continue to want to work with members of this committee and members of the house, members of the congress, on a comprehensive immigration reform piece of legislation. because you're correct, this is not a permanent solution. but it is in our existing legal authority to issue, to fix the broken system, and we feel that we had no choice. >> secretary, general barry mccaff

. >> is it even functionally amnesty? situation rent amounts to amnesty. we want people to be accountable of the shadows, get n the books and pay taxes for the three-year period of deferred action. mr. secretary., does this represent a permanent solution, this executive action, in your opinion? >> no. i would e say again, welcome the opportunity to work with the members of this know are who i interested in immigration reform on both sides of the aisle. since i have been in office we have not had a the house of r in representatives. work continue to want to with members of this committee and members of the house and embers of the congress on a comprehensive immigration reform piece of legislation. this isyou are correct, not a permanent solution. ut it is in our existing legal authority to issue to fix the roken system and we feel that we had no choice. >> general barry mccaffrey a witness during a border security hearing before the committee in the last said that the lack threat to s a direct our national security. would you comment on that, please? part o

. >> not legally -- is it even functionally amnesty? >> the current -- the current situation amounts to amnesty. we want people to be accountable, to come out of the shadows, get on the books, and pay taxes for the three-year period of deferred action. >> thank you mr. secretary. i have another question. does this represent a permanent solution this executive order, in your opinion? >> no. and let me say again, i would welcome the opportunity to work with the members of this committee who i know are interested in immigration reform on both sides of the aisle. unfortunately, since i've been in office, we have not had a willing partner in the house of representatives. but i continue to want to work with members of this committee and members of the house, members of the congress, on a comprehensive immigration reform piece of legislation. because you're correct, this is not a permanent solution. but it is in our existing legal authority to issue, to fix the broken system, and we feel that we had no choice. >> secretary, general barry mccaff

. >> not legally -- is it even functionally amnesty? >> the current situation amounts to amnesty. we want people to be accountable, to come out of the shadows, get on the books, and pay taxes for the three-year period of deferred action. >> thank you mr. secretary. i have another question. does this represent a permanent solution this executive order, in your opinion? >> no. and let me say again, i would welcome the opportunity to work with the members of this committee who i know are interested in immigration reform on both sides of the aisle. unfortunately, since i've been in office, we have not had a willing partner in the house of representatives. but i continue to want to work with members of this committee and members of the house, members of the congress, on a comprehensive immigration reform piece of legislation. because you're correct, this is not a permanent solution. but it is in our existing legal authority to issue, to fix the broken system, and we feel that we had no choice. >> secretary, general barry mccaffrey served as a witness during a border security hearing be

. >> even functionally amnesty, current situation amounts to amnesty. >> republicans said the president is breaking the law and played clips of him saying he couldn't act on his own. >> i just took an action to change the law. >> so you say he didn't change the law, but the penalty said he did. >> secretary johnson said the law is on the president's side and appeared unimpressed by the congressman's visual aid. >> i've been a lawyer 30 years. somebody plays me an eight word excerpt from a broader speech, i know to be suspicious. ok? that was very nice. >> jay johnson clearly has a legal background. he used to be general counsel for the pentagon and not only was he defending the president's immigration plan, he's actually an architect of it. he helped create it and took that message to capitol hill yesterday. >> everybody amazed that he countered those words so quickly. learning lessons from the past, the gop choosing not to shut down the government to get their way. >> the american public blames them for last year's government shut down, so leadership such as speaker boehner are remembe

amnesty. he didn't have the courage after all of the blather and boisterous nonsense about issuing an executive fiat. he doesn't sign the memorandum. >> the memoranda and the executive order has the same function still change the law without congress. lou: we're a country made up of idiots. >> to be fair -- >> let's be accurate, okay, first, if we may. how in the hell do we get to the point there is imperial presidency. i don't care who's in that oval office. i don't want an imperial president. i don't want a president or executive branch that can say to hell with the legislative branch and to hell with the constitution and act as if it's 19 -- >> you sound like you want checks and balances. lou: you mean like the founders? >>, is that right? wow, lou. lou: how in the world do we tolerate this nonsense? >> we've already tolerated it. the majority voted in 2012. we're done. the dye is cast. lou: authoritarian government, if i may say, that speaking to our electoral process a little far. >> also, lou, a lot of the public is saying wait a minute, president obama didn't you say repeatedly you could not -- >> the immigration law. >> doing this with a stroke of a pen. even less than a stroke of a pe

amnesty to millions of immigrants who are in the united states illegally. prior to his unilateral actions, the president himself acknowledged repeatedly that this is not how our democracy functions and the way to reform this nation's broken immigration system is legislatively. as they say in north carolina, the president has gone to midland. it's absolutely critical that we go on record against his unparallel power grab and congress must do everything it can to stop his destructive actions. as the granddaughter of italian immigrants, i'm thankful america has always opened her arms to people looking to build a better way for themselves and their families legally. however, breaking the law to enter the united states should not be rewarded. it is wrong to short-circuit the american immigration process in this manner when there are so many individuals who have waited years for the opportunity to come to this country the right way, the legal way. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and ext