Lawsuit against the President authorized by GOP Congress
For the first time in the history of the United States, Congress has passed a bill to authorize the Speaker of the House to file a lawsuit against the President of the United States, President Obama. The bill was on a party line vote 225 to 201. Not one Democrat voted for the bill. Five Republicans voted against the likely bill because the bill did not go far enough.
What is the lawsuit about? The lawsuit will claim that President Obama broke the law in his selective implementation of segments of the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare.
According to the New York Times,
During an hour-long debate that was passionate and pointed, Republicans accused the president of flouting the law and breaking a solemn constitutional oath. They summoned lessons from the American Revolution and the Bible.
Speaker John A. Boehner all but accused Mr. Obama of leaving the Constitution in tatters. “No member of this body needs to be reminded about what the Constitution states about the president’s obligation to faithfully execute the laws of our nation,” Mr. Boehner said from the House floor. “Are you willing to let any president choose what laws to execute and what laws to change? Are you willing to let anyone tear apart what our founders have built?”
After the vote, the Democratic leadership gave extensive statements with prescient sound bites.
“Republicans are using taxpayer time and money to sue the President,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said. “We don’t have money to have early childhood education for our children. They have rejected the President’s Universal Pre-K. But we do have money to sue the President.”
“The American people are distressed, and angry, and disappointed with the Congress of the United States,” said Democratic Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer. “Today’s performance is one of the reasons why.”
“This lawsuit is a measure of how House Republicans are using taxpayer dollars,” said Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn. “against this president that they could not beat in the elections. It is unfair to the American people. It is undemocratic. It is un-American.”
“The Republican call this a serious measure,” said Chair Rep. Xavier Becerra. “We think it is serious because it is dangerous. It is a dangerous use of a lever of government. And that makes it not only a dangerous measure. It makes it a reckless measure. Because it is a reckless use, an unprecedented use of taxpayer dollars to sue the President of the United States. At a time when we are facing a humanitarian crisis with children at our border, at a time we are about to see the money to keep transportation projects going throughout our communities to rebuild our roads and bridges and highways, at a time when businesses throughout America are crying out to Congress to please renew the terrorism insurance that they need so they can operate their businesses, this is what our Republican colleagues are doing.”
“This lawsuit is a first step towards impeachment of the President of the United States,” said Vice Chair Rep. Joe Crowley. “Impeachment is not a word you just throw around either. This is very serious. What is not serious are the grounds for the lawsuit itself.”
“Let’s call this what it is,” said Rep. Steve Israel. “This is a political strategy funded by taxpayer dollars by the Republicans to rev up their base. It is a political strategy that is backfiring badly. The American people are not interested in political strategies. They want solutions.
“Well I think today we witnessed probably the worst case of legislative malpractice in the history of any legislature,” said Louise Slaughter.