60 Seconds With Ted Cruz: How Should GOP Handle Homeland Security Funding in Wake of Paris Terror Attacks?

Kelsey Bolar / January 12, 2015

In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, The Daily Signal asked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz whether he believes it is appropriate to have a debate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security in order to stop President Obama’s immigration executive actions.

“At the end of the day, the person threatening DHS funding is President Obama,” he said, adding:

“I believe the House is acting pursuant to the Constitution [and] pursuant to the checks and balances our framers put in the Constitution to use the power of the purse to reign in the unconstitutional action of the president.”

House Republicans plan to act on legislation this week that would fund Homeland Security while also rolling back Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

>>> House GOP Agrees to Expansive Plan Blocking Obama’s Immigration Actions

Today, White House press secretary Josh Earnest argued, “Right now seems like a particularly bad time for them to do so.”

He said the president would veto any legislation that included amendments like the ones Republicans have proposed.

“We’ve made clear, dating back to last fall, that the president would oppose any legislative effort to undermine the executive actions that he took to add greater accountability to our immigration system,” said Earnest.

Watch the video to hear Cruz’s take on the issue and his strategy for achieving conservative policy ideas during the next two years of the Republican-controlled Congress.