Promoting progress

President Obama has been taking a lot of flak recently after signing several executive orders and promising more to come. In particular, House Republicans are upset over Obama’s announcement that he’ll take action on immigration reform during their summer recess. This came on the heels of a statement by House Speaker John Boehner that his chamber will not pass similar legislation this year.

The president has every authority to issue executive orders, and those he’s offered thus far have been mostly benign. Obama’s proposal would provide some relief for the millions of undocumented workers currently in this country facing the threat of deportation. If Congress doesn’t like it, it can enact a law nullifying the order (which the president could, of course, then veto) or take the matter to court, where it could be stricken down. Impeachment would be an all-around bad move, a waste of time and money.

The real issue here is the inability of our current Congress to do much of, well, anything. What’s a president to do with a legislative body that doesn’t enact meaningful laws? Obama is clearly disappointed in the gridlock and we, as American citizens, should be too. Congressional Democrats and Republicans must be able to work together, despite their differences, and make tough decisions that shape our future.

Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa is up for re-election this year. On his website, he slams Obama’s proposal to take action on immigration, saying it has led to a surge of illegal immigrants at our borders. These next few months, take a good look at our representative. Is he doing all he can to promote progress in Washington? Because we certainly deserve someone who can do just that.