John Boehner Considers Suing President Obama Over Alleged Misuse of Executive Authority
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is reportedly considering filing a lawsuit against President Obama because of his increased use of the signing executive orders to bypass Congress.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel confirmed with CNN that the speaker has been mulling over the idea. Boehner, along with several other Republicans insist that President Obama and the White House have been abusing his constitutional power to pass initiatives.
"The president has a clear record of ignoring the American people's elected representatives and exceeding his Constitutional authority, which has dangerous implications for both our system of government and our economy," Steel said.
Steel did not know when he would make his decision to sue the president by or what actions he would challenge, CNN reported.
Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, said House Democrats, including Pelosi, are staunchly against the potential legal battle amid Congressional gridlock.
"While the urgent needs of the American people are ignored by House Republicans, it is reprehensible that Speaker Boehner plans another doomed, legal boondoggle after he spent $2.3 million in taxpayer dollars unsuccessfully defending discrimination in federal courts," Hammill said Wednesday.
The Republican-controlled House has approved two bills that would limit the amount of executive orders signed by President Obama, but the Democratic-controlled Senate never pushed them forward.
The president vowed in his State of the Union address that he would begin to exercise more of his executive authority to bypass Congress, which has been deeply divided since he took office. President Obama has used executive orders to pass initiatives he feels are important but would go nowhere in either the Senate or the House.
Obama has used signed executive orders in the past to raise minimum wage for federal contractors and to halt the deportations of children who were brought to the U.S. illegally. His recent executive order was a measure that directed the Department of Labor to extend family leave to same-sex couples, according to CNN.
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