Right Opinion Fighting Obama's Amnesty: Et Tu, Brute?

Most Americans don’t watch C-SPAN and I cannot blame them.

More often than not, it seems as though the Senate is in a quorum call or a lone senator is debating something totally irrelevant to the issues that are important to most Americans. That changed a little bit on Saturday when Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah forced the Senate to debate President Obama’s executive amnesty.

I’ll save you the boring back-and-forth that occurred in our nation’s capital over the procedural stuff and cut right to the chase: Ted and Mike were attempting to carry out the mandate that voters gave to Congress on Nov. 4.

They were fighting to stop Obama’s executive actions, which grants quasi-legal status, work permits and Social Security numbers to millions of those who are in the country illegally while millions are waiting to come to America legally.

These two senators were representing the mainstream of their party and the majority of voters from the past election.

There is absolutely zero debate within the Republican Party as to whether the president overstepped his constitutional authority or acted improperly. Everyone agrees that he has. The disagreement, apparently, is over whether lawmakers actually should try to stop him.

This is not a difference over tactics, as some have been quick to suggest. It is a difference that originates from distinctly different objectives.

Many of those who pushed through the massive $1.1 trillion “CRomnibus” spending bill – a bill that Obama supported and pushed liberals to vote for – did so because they prioritize making Washington’s gravy train run on time above stopping the president’s unlawful actions.

What Cruz and Lee did was stand up for those who are tired of the status quo.

They were serving as a voice for the underrepresented majority who are too often not heard in Washington, D.C. They were trying to deliver on the promise made by many of the politicians who were victorious in November.

And what did they get in return? Anger and vitriol from their colleagues who claim to share the same goal.

Instead of focusing on Obama’s unlawful amnesty, some in their party went so far as to accuse Cruz and Lee of helping Harry Reid confirm Obama’s radical nominees. This, despite the fact that Reid has invoked the nuclear option and made it crystal clear he intended to keep the Senate in session as long as it took to force through Obama nominees.

Without a hint of irony, those senators hurled false accusations as they voted in favor of the Obama-backed spending bill.

The Washington tit-for-tat is of little consequence to most voters, however. The importance of the past week is one of direction: Will a Republican-controlled Congress follow the lead of conservatives such as Cruz and Lee in the Senate and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio in House, or will lawmakers follow the lead of pro-amnesty K Street lobbyists?

For the sake of the country, let’s hope it isn’t the latter.

Republished from The Daily Signal.