The reality is we need some Senate Democrats to step up. After last week, I hope and expect that there will be a number of Senate Democrats who are tired of being asked to protect the president, often at great political cost. – Sen. Mike Lee
SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on Monday called on Democrats in the Senate to stand up to President Barack Obama's intent to take executive action on immigration and "remind the president he is not a king."
The newest member of Utah's congressional delegation, GOP Rep.-elect Mia Love, joined in the criticism of the president unilaterally removing the threat of deportation for up to 5 million immigrants in the country illegally.
Love, who is in Washington, D.C., for orientation sessions in preparation for taking office Jan. 3, said Obama "is behaving more like a dictatorship than an elected official. … (He's) acting as if he's an elite that is capable of making decisions for everyone."
Republicans are vowing to fight the president on his proposal to expand existing protections for people who came to the country illegally as young children, expected to be announced as soon as this week.
With executive action likely coming before the GOP takes over control of the Senate as well as the House as a result of the mid-term elections, Lee told KSL Newsradio's Doug Wright that Republicans alone cannot stop the president.
"The reality is we need some Senate Democrats to step up," he said. "After last week, I hope and expect that there will be a number of Senate Democrats who are tired of being asked to protect the president, often at great political cost."
Now is the time for Senate Democrats, Lee said, "to stand with the American people and to stand up to the president and say, 'Look, this is an American Congress. It's not a Congress that belongs to either political party.'"
Utah's junior senator also said it's time for members of Congress "to stand up for the oath they've sworn to the Constitution, and remind the president he is not a king, he's not a legislative party of one."
Lee said Obama is attempting an action he acknowledged in the past was unconstitutional "in a desperate attempt to remain relevant," deciding "to defy the American people, to ignore the election results and to hijack the legislative process."
His comments came as six top Senate Democrats, including outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sent a letter to the president stating they "strongly support" his plan.
The New York Times reported the letter stated they will stand behind Obama "to support changes to keep families together while continuing to enforce our immigration laws in a way that protects our national security and public safety."
On Sunday, Lee said on "Face the Nation" that he did not believe confronting the president on immigration meant the country was headed for another federal government shutdown.
Last year, a fight led by Lee and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, against the Affordable Care Act, the president's signature health care also law known as Obamacare, resulted in a government shutdown.
"It's difficult for us to know how best we should respond when we don't know what he's going to do yet," Lee said on the Sunday CBS TV show. "But we're standing ready," he said, to make sure the "institutional prerogative of Congress" is respected.
Love, who is replacing retiring Rep. Jim Matheson, the only Democrat in Utah's congressional delegation, said what's missing in Washington is the voice of the people.
"We in Utah feel our voices aren't being heard," Love said. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure our voice is amplified here and we let the president and everyone else know that we want to be involved in the decision-making."
The former Saratoga Springs mayor has been in Washington since Wednesday, participating in meetings with her fellow freshman members of Congress that included a tour of the House floor.
"It's a lot of information," Love said.
She said she's focused on getting to know other members of Congress, particularly other newcomers "that I would be able to find a good common ground to work with."
The biggest surprise for her in Washington, Love said, is that there are so many different personalities in Congress.
"What's been really nice is that it seems to me that throughout this country, people wanted to make sure they were electing real people," she said, including those "who aren't really career politicians, people who are really a lot like me."
Love, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, has attracted attention as the first black Republican woman elected to Congress. Her election has been reported in newspapers and online in outlets as far away as Australia.
"I think that there are people who have paid attention to the race," Love said. "It's not hard to recognize me in some of these places. But it's OK. I mean, it's just a lot of fun. People are watching."
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