House to discuss potential lawsuit against President Obama
Is the groundwork being laid to try to impeach America’s first black Commander in Chief?
That’s a question being asked in Congress and across the country, as the House is expected to debate and vote today on a resolution that would authorize a controversial — and groundbreaking — lawsuit against Barack Obama.
House Resolution 676, according to a government website, would provide “authority to initiate litigation for actions by the President or other executive branch officials inconsistent with their duties under the Constitution of the United States.”
“President Obama has overstepped his constitutional authority — and it is the responsibility of the House of Representatives to defend the Constitution,” House Speaker John Boehner wrote in a recent op-ed for USA Today. “I believe the president’s actions in a number of areas…. exceed his authority.”
The legal action would reportedly focus on Obama’s decision made by executive order to twice extend the deadline to institute the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act — the president’s signature health care legislature aka “Obamacare.”
The president’s supporters say he delayed the employer mandate from taking effect for one year in an effort to listen to and act upon Republican concerns.
Boehner also cited what he characterized as “job destroying” energy regulations; releasing the so-called “Taliban 5” from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba without notice; and “waiving the work requirements” in welfare.
He added “this is also not about me vs. President Obama. This is about future Congresses and future presidents.”
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) counter that a lawsuit is nothing more than a ploy to set up this particular president for impeachment.
Article II of the Constitution reserves the penalty of impeachment for “treason, bribery; or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
On Monday, the CBC held what’s known as a “Special Order Hour” on Capitol Hill to criticize Republican leadership for their intent to sue President Obama. The caucus dubbed what’s been happening a “march to impeachment.”
“Speaker Boehner and the Republicans are poised to waste millions of taxpayer dollars on a lawsuit arguing against something they asked President Obama to do,” said CBC Chair Marcia L. Fudge, who represents Ohio.
They are “claiming” to take issue with the President because he instructed the delay of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate, she continued.
“If I remember correctly, House Republicans wanted to do away with that provision — not to mention the entire ACA…. And now they are trying to punish him for it. This makes absolutely no sense.”
She noted that since Obama’s historic election and re-election, the Republican leadership has shown nothing short of “outright disrespect and disdain” for the president.
“It started with critics saying he was not a citizen. Now they’re trying to discredit him and paint him as a lawless criminal,” Fudge said in a subsequent interview. “They want to make him illegitimate and destroy his legacy. I take this very, very seriously and hope people will see that this gimmick is not something to play with.”
Despite suggestions from one-time Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and others in the party that Obama be impeached, Boehner has said in recent interviews (a call to his office requesting comment was not returned) that there are no “plans” to do so.
He instead pointed the finger at Democrats and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, dubbing the controversy a “scam” that has reportedly generated a significant bump in fundraising from donors in time for the forthcoming mid-term elections in November.
Asked by a reporter during a press conference Tuesday whether the White House was “freaking out” about the possibility of impeachment, White House spokesman Josh Earnest acknowledged that the Administration was “very disappointed.”
He noted that in the days before Congress embarks on a five-week long August recess, time is being spent debating a taxpayer-funded lawsuit.
“…They are prepared to file against the President just for doing his job, instead of focusing on some of these other priorities that should get done before Labor Day, ” Earnest said.
Indeed, the President and nation are grappling with such issues as immigration reform, veteran’s affairs, overseas conflicts and the recovering economy. Major urban cities and suburbs across the country continue to deal with gun violence, drug addiction and other social ills.
“We believe that the Republican priorities that they have articulated are completely wrong.… These political partisan attacks don’t create jobs, they don’t reduce the deficit, they don’t make things better for middle-class families,” said Earnest.
David Bositis, a Virginia-based political analyst formerly with The Joint Center in Washington, D.C., said he was doubtful “the case would be successful.”
“Almost every president has been sued, though by not a whole House of Congress,” he said. “However, the judicial branch has long given the executive branch a lot of leeway in terms of how it carries out laws.”
President Obama is in Kansas City today delivering a speech about the economy before approximately 1,500 people.
