Republicans are planning to block President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration once they hold control of both chambers of Congress next year. One such tactic, according to Senator-elect Tom Cotton, includes a spending-cap bill much like the one the GOP used on the Guantanamo Bay issue.

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Cotton, who represents Arkansas State, told Fox News on Sunday that the House could pass legislation that would place a cap on Obama's spending on Social Security cards for immigrants who could gain eligibility for U.S. residency through executive action.

The strategy is similar to the one employed by the GOP-led House on June when they passed a US$638 billion defense bill aimed at blocking Obama's plan to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison as part of his promise to try terror suspects in civilian courts.

Republican lawmakers have also been mulling over several strategies in case Obama decides to take executive action before the GOP-controlled chambers take office in January, as he has declared in the past weeks.

Among the harshest is passing a spending bill - most likely to be vetoed by Obama - that would temporarily close down a number of federal divisions after Dec. 11, Fox News relayed.

Cotton and Senator-elect James Lankford of Oklahoma have said the extreme strategy is unlikely to come to fruition.

The GOP is "not pursuing" a government shutdown, said Lankford.

"I don't think anybody wants to shut down the government," Cotton added.

Other strategies Republicans have been considering include taking legal action against the president to invalidate executive action, passing stand-alone legislation to stop Obama, and writing their own immigration bill to pre-empt the president.

Analysts predict Obama is gearing up to announce executive action on immigration as early as next week. If approved, the law stands to protect some 5 million illegal migrants from deportation, amend several law-enforcement regulations and lengthen business visa terms for non-U.S. citizens.

Tagspolitics, Barack Obama, Executive action on immigration, Republican, house, Senate, Congress, Spending Bill, Tom Cotton, James Lankford