Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) late Friday formally challenged the constitutionality of the $1 trillion spending bill, and launched a process that could force the Senate to vote on whether the bill violates the Constitution because it allows President Barack Obama to implement his executive action on immigration.
Cruz took to the floor Friday evening, and said Obama's immigration action violates the Constitution and is closer to the act of a monarch than a president.
"The president has justified this illegal amnesty by saying he told Congress what he wanted, and Congress refused to give it to him," Cruz said. "Well, Mr. President, the relationship in our constitutional republic between the president and the Congress is not the relationship between a parent and a child."
"The president does not get to demand of Congress, 'here is the policy I want; either give me what I want, or I will decree it to be so and ignore the law,'" he said.
After warning that Congress must stand its ground and fight Obama's action, Cruz made a point of order against the spending bill by arguing it would allow Obama's actions to stand.
Before launching his formal protest against the spending bill, Cruz criticized Republicans in both the House and Senate for negotiating the huge bill that has been harshly criticized on both sides.
"When our leaders say as a commitment, we will fight and we will stop President Obama's illegal amnesty, I take them at their word," he said.
"The American people may not be quite so trustful as am I, because they've seen far too many members of Congress say one thing and do another, and we will learn soon enough if those statements are genuine and sincere," he added.
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