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Provided by The Hill Republicans huddle to counter Obama on immigration

Republicans in and out of Congress are urging GOP leaders to move quickly on immigration reform in response to President Obamas executive actions.

The GOP voices say Republican lawmakers should take the reins of the immigration debate with new legislation, both to bolster their party ahead of the 2016 elections and to push back against Obama.

The best way to criticize governing through fiat is to offer an alternative, said Republican activist Grover Norquist.

What appears to be the smart move, and what theyre going to do, is do immigration reform through normal legislative [channels], said Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform. Do it in a way that Republicans find acceptable, meaning take the border seriously [and] think of Americas economic needs. Move forward on that and let him [Obama] be over in the corner stamping his feet.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has tried previously to move immigration reform, but opposition from his conservative wing cut those efforts short.

Incoming Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) backed then-President Bushs push for reform in 2006, voting in favor of a comprehensive bill that year. The bill never became law, however, and McConnell voted against a similar measure the following year.

When 68 senators, including 14 Republicans, voted in favor of reform last year, McConnell was one of 32 nays.

Both Boehner and McConnell are now under pressure to wage the immigration battle by denying funding for the agencies overseeing Obamas executive actions, which will shelter as many as 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation and offer them the chance to work in the country legally. Conservatives are also pressing their leaders to expand the GOPs lawsuit against the White House on ObamaCare to include immigration policy.

But a number of Republicans see both of those strategies as losers.

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Republicans huddle to counter Obama on immigration