Senator Collin's "Compromise" Undermines GOP Case on Executive Actions

As a recap, Congressional Republicans are struggling to come up with a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security by the end of this month (a self-imposed deadline). That's because they want to use the bill to repeal President Obama's "deferred actions" on undocumented immigrants - which they deem an "unconstitutional executive overreach." But they can't come up with a bill that will pass with enough Democrats to get past a filibuster.

Enter Senator Collins with a proposed "compromise." It would repeal President Obama's action from Nov. 2014 for parents of American citizens (DAPA), but not his 2012 action for DREAMers (DACA). Collins says her goal is to “send a strong response to the president to counter his gross overreach of his executive authority through his issuance of the Nov. 2014 executive order.”

But here's the deal: If it was "gross overreach" for the President to grant deferred action to parents of citizens, why wouldn't it also be overreach for him to do so for young people brought here as children? Color me confused, but for folks who claim to live by "principles," this proposal reminds me of King Solomon offering to split the baby in half.