Obama predicts GOP will fail in efforts to counter immigration action

President Obama said Wednesday he expects congressional Republicans to take “a couple of stabs” unsuccessfully at rescinding his executive action on immigration, but warned the issue shouldn’t sidetrack fiscal issues such as completing a budget and reforming tax rates.

“They’ll take a couple of stabs at rolling back what I’ve done,” Mr. Obama told industry leaders at a meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington. “I recognize there’s been some controversy about the action I’ve taken.”

He didn’t use the word “veto” while talking about congressional attempts to overturn his action but said those efforts would fail, adding that he believes the GOP will then say, “let’s engage with the president.” He said he’s “still hopeful” that Congress will eventually pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Republican lawmakers are debating a range of options to counter the president’s executive action that grants legal status to nearly 5 million illegal immigrants, including de-funding the effort through legislation or blocking presidential nominations. Republican leaders have said they don’t intend to force a government shutdown over the issue.

Mr. Obama said he wants to work with the GOP on tax reform, and to extend a short-term package of 54 tax breaks for corporations and individuals that are expiring at the end of this year. But he said any package must include extensions of the Earned Income Tax and Child Tax credits, which he called “hugely important” to working families.

Neither of those provisions expire until the end of 2017.

The president also dropped a few broad suggestions with the industry chiefs to raise wages for their employees, saying “that’s part of what’s causing disquiet in the general public.”

In a wide-ranging conversation with the business leaders, Mr. Obama also suggested that he has “solved” the federal government’s deficits. The president said his administration has “made progress on short-term deficits,” and that one of his frustrations with Washington is that nobody gives credit for such actions.

“People are really good about hollering about problems, and then when we solve them, nobody talks about it,” he said.

The federal budget deficit shrank in fiscal 2014 to $483 billion, down from $680 billion in fiscal 2013 and from the record deficit of $1.4 trillion in 2009. The overall national debt stands at $17.8 trillion.