A week before a possible government shutdown , the House of Representatives spent time on a Republican bill that does n't fund any federal agencies , and even its supporters admit is already dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate . House Republican leaders are still building support for their spending bill , and are eying a vote next week -- potentially Dec. 11 , the same day as the deadline when agencies run out of funds . But as time is running out to avoid a potential crisis , the House voted Thursday to back a measure that 's designed to let GOP opponents of President Barack Obama 's executive actions on immigration vent their frustrations . The `` Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act '' was drafted by Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho . It states that the executive branch of government does not have the authority to stop deportations of certain categories of undocumented workers in the United States . It cleared the House in a 219-197 vote that was almost entirely along party lines . But this bill ca n't undo what the President has done , and even those conservatives who voted for it say it 's simply a messaging bill to assert Congress ' role in passing new laws . Cruz causes headaches for GOP leaders . Again . Many House conservatives have been pressing Speaker John Boehner to go further in responding to the President 's immigration policy , insisting that the House strip away any money in the annual government spending bill so it can prevent the Administration from carrying out its plans . But Boehner and other GOP leaders do n't want to risk another shutdown , after the one last fall inflicted major political damage to the party . Instead Republican leaders argue that a vote on this separate bill puts the House on record , and positions them to fight back against the President 's executive orders next year , when the GOP controls both the House and the Senate . Those hardliners who want to use the spending bill as leverage in the immigration fight say they back anything that disapproves of the President 's actions . But it 's not enough for them to get on board with the leaders ' plan to postpone any fight using the legislative branch 's power of the purse until next year . Republican Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina called the bill `` important first step '' but said he was still not satisfied . `` Is this enough ? Ultimately no , I think ultimately we need to defund the president 's ability to move forward , '' Sanford argued on the House floor . Boehner appeared confident Thursday that his spending proposal would pass , and predicted at his weekly press conference it would get bipartisan support . The Speaker waved off making any changes to address concerns of conservatives . In what appeared to be a shot back at those GOP members who Boehner said were `` griping '' about the funding bill , he said `` this was their idea of how to proceed . '' Shutdown drama builds in Congress . Democrats denounced the bill and called it a waste of time . Over and over Democrats called on House Republicans to bring up bipartisan immigration legislation for a vote . Obama said at a college summit Thursday that the House GOP bill would `` force talented young people ... to leave our country . '' `` It does not make sense for us to want to push talent out rather than make sure that they 're staying here and contributing to society , '' he said . `` Rather than deport students and separate families and make it harder for law enforcement to do its job , I just want Congress to work with us to fix a broken immigration system . '' Standing next to a life size poster for former Republican President Ronald Reagan in the House chamber , Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez defended Obama 's action and compared what he did last month to action that Reagan signed in the 1980s . `` They did n't call Ronald Reagan a tyrant , they did n't call him lawless . Yet he said ' I would protect a million and a half undocumented people ' that you call illegal . He protected them , '' Gutierrez said . Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz Balart was one of seven House Republicans to oppose the bill . He told reporters he agrees with his GOP colleagues that the President did n't have the authority to act on his own , but he believes the proper response is to start working on immigration proposals to fix the system . `` There is only way to do this- we have to pass legislation to deal with the issue , '' Diaz-Balart said , adding that the current immigration system `` remains absolutely in a shambles . ''
House voted 219-197 to approve bill targeting Obama 's immigration order . The largely political bill is not expected to go anywhere in the Senate . Comment: Congress is facing a deadline next week to avoid a government shutdown .