Republican Rep. Steve King introduced on Wednesday an amendment to an appropriations bill blocking government funds for the legal costs of the Obama administration's court case against on DAPA.

Rep. King's amendment to the 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act "prohibit[s] the use of funds in the Fifth Circuit Court case of Texas v. U.S." The amendment passed in a partisan vote of 222 to 204, with only Republicans voting in its favor. However, 19 Republicans voted with Democrats to oppose the amendment.

The court case was brought by 26 states, led by Texas, opposing the government on President Obama's immigration executive orders. The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) was announced in November but has since been successfully blocked by the Republican-led states against it.

"A lot of money has been spent and wasted in an attempt to, let's say -- the gracious way to say it would be to stretch the Constitution beyond any bounds that it had been stretched before," said Rep. King said on the floor of the House.

He referred the president's executive orders as an "unconstitutional executive amnesty position" and citing the Fifth Circuit Court's statement that the government would not succeed in its case against the states.

A couple of weeks ago, the court denied the government's call to lift the hold on DAPA. This has stalled the application of the order and prevents millions of undocumented immigrants who are eligible from applying.

Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and member of the House Appropriations subcommittee, spoke against the bill and its amendments.

"This is an imperfect bill, and unfortunately we cannot improve the process, but I am hopeful that we can improve the product as we go into conference with the Senate," he said in a statement.

"It is unfair for us to deny the executive branch an opportunity to put forth its arguments in court," Rep. Fattah said on the floor, according to the Hill. Nonetheless, the bill passed.

The 19 Republicans who voted against it were Reps. Mike Coffman (Colo.), Carlos Curbelo (Fla.), Jeff Denham (Calif.), Mario Díaz-Balart (Fla.), Robert Dold (Ill.), Dan Donovan (N.Y.), Chris Gibson (N.Y.), Richard Hanna (N.Y.), Joe Heck (Nev.), Bill Johnson (Ohio), David Jolly (Fla.), John Katko (N.Y.), King, Tom MacArthur (N.J.), Martha McSally (Ariz.), Devin Nunes (Calif.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and David Valadao (Calif.).