Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Friday voted for legislation offered by Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) "to stop the president’s illegal executive amnesty granting temporary legal status and work permits to up to 5 million illegal immigrants."
He also voted to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through Sept. 30, 2015.
“I voted for legislation to prohibit the president’s unconstitutional actions granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants because our Founders did not want a king, and the American people don’t want a president who acts like one,” Senator Alexander said. “I also voted to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is critical to the defense of our country – both to securing the border and in the fight against terrorism.”
Prior to today’s vote, the Senate Republican majority tried four times to begin debate on a House-passed bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security "while stopping the president’s unconstitutional actions granting executive amnesty to illegal immigrants," the Alexander office said. Each of those times, Alexander voted to begin debate on the House-passed legislation, while every Senate Democrat blocked consideration, it was stated.
It would have required 60 votes to begin debate on the House-passed legislation. Overriding a presidential veto of legislation to stop the president’s executive amnesty would require 67 votes. Republicans hold a 54-46 majority in the U.S. Senate.