House Republicans filed a long-awaited lawsuit against the Obama administration on Friday morning, accusing President Barack Obama of overstepping his executive authority to implement the Affordable Care Act, The New York Times reported.
A day after Obama announced that he will unilaterally grant temporary relief to millions of undocumented immigrants, the GOP made good on a promise by House Speaker John Boehner to legally challenge the president's use of executive amnesty when implementing his signature health care law.
"Time after time, the president has chosen to ignore the will of the American people and rewrite federal law on his own without a vote of Congress," Boehner said in a statement, "If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well. The House has an obligation to stand up for the Constitution, and that is exactly why we are pursuing this course of action."
The suit, filed against the secretaries of Health and Human Services and the Treasury Department, details two unilateral actions by the executive branch, Time reported.
One, :the president's decision to twice waive the mandated deadline for larger employers to provide health insurance to employees or face penalties," according to USA Today. The second one was listed as the administration's decision to unlawfully pay insurance companies $175 billion through a Treasury Department account that was not authorized by Congress.
However Democrats dismissed the suit, stating that it is politically motivated waste of taxpayer money, with House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi ridiculing the lawsuit as a political stunt.
Back in July, while House Republicans had approved a bill authorizing the legal action in a 225-201 vote, none of the Democrats had supported the measure.
"After scouring Washington for months, Republicans have finally found a TV lawyer to file their meritless lawsuit," Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said in a statement Friday. "While the American people want Congress to get serious about creating good-paying jobs and strengthening the middle class, House Republicans are paying $500-an-hour in taxpayer money to sue the President of the United States. The fact is, this lawsuit is a bald-faced attempt to achieve what Republicans have been unable to achieve through the political process."
On Thursday night, Obama announced a round of executive orders on immigration that will allow up to 5 million undocumented immigrants to apply for legal status. He described his actions as being a result of Republicans in Congress refusing to work with him.
Meanwhile, some Republicans have suggested they could sue the president over that action as well, but it will require a separate vote, according to NBC News.
