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Boehner: Obama is acting like a king

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, discusses the president's impending action on immigration
John Boehner: Obama acting like "king" or "emperor" on immigration 00:20

Ahead of President Obama's primetime address to the nation regarding immigration reform, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, released a video statement slamming the president's decision to act unilaterally.

"Instead of working together to fix our broken immigration system, the president says he's acting on his own. But that is just not how our democracy works," Boehner says in the brief video.

"The president has said before that 'he's not king' and he's 'not an emperor,' but he sure is acting like one," he continues. "And he's doing it a time when the American people want nothing more than for us to work together."

Other Republicans have taken to comparing Mr. Obama to a king -- Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, on Thursday posted a picture on Twitter of a "'president who thinks he's a king' starter pack."

Boehner has so far refused to hold a vote in the House on the comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Senate passed last year with bipartisan support. The actions Mr. Obama will announce Thursday night are expected to impact as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants.

Watch President Obama announce his plans to expand immigration live on CBSN Thursday Nov. 20, at 8:00p.m. EST.

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