Boehner Says Obama Is ‘Damaging the Presidency’

Speaker John Boehner said that President Obama was “damaging the presidency itself” by using his executive authority to prevent the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, the New York Times reports.

Said Boehner: “With this action, the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms that he claims to seek. And as I told him yesterday, he’s damaging the presidency itself.”

“Mr. Obama, in his address to the nation Thursday night, all but dared congressional Republicans to act — either by passing their own immigration legislation to trump his executive action or by challenging him in a way that could be politically disastrous for the Republican brand… In the lead-up to his announcement and in the hours after, Republicans struggled to balance fighting what they view as an abuse of presidential power while still offering a carefully moderated response that does not damage the party’s standing with Latino voters, the nation’s fastest-growing minority, or imperil its governing agenda next year, when it controls both chambers.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]And with that, the House now heads off on recess until December 1. [/speech_bubble]