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Congressman Scott DesJarlais, M.D. (TN-04) released the following statement after voting against HR 83, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act for FY 2015, commonly referred to as the cromnibus:

“This 1,603-page bill was released just the other day. There is absolutely no conceivable way any member of Congress had time to properly review this $1.1 trillion piece of legislation. Have we not learned the lesson that having to pass a bill to find out what is in it results in bad policy?

“One thing we do know is that this legislation provides funding for President Obama’s unconstitutional executive order on immigration. As the representative for Tennessee’s Fourth District, I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. This is something I will not compromise on. Congress has the power of the purse and it is incumbent upon us to use this power to prevent the White House from violating the separation of powers.

“If the president wants immigration reform, then he should present his ideas to Congress and work within the proper constitutional framework. But he does not have the authority to disregard existing law – laws that he is constitutionally bound to execute. If Republicans won’t step up and hold this president accountable, who will?”