WASHINGTON: US House Speaker John Boehner said on Wednesday he is preparing a lawsuit alleging that President Barack Obama has abused his executive authority by implementing policies without congressional approval.
Boehner said the suit from the House of Representatives was aimed at protecting the rights of Congress under the constitution and said Obama was ignoring the laws that it passes.
"The constitution makes it clear that the president's job is to faithfully execute the law. In my view, the president has not faithfully executed the law," Boehner told reporters.
He declined to say which actions taken by Obama would be challenged in the suit and denied that the action was aimed at impeachment proceedings against the president.
Obama has used executive orders to advance his agenda in the face of a gridlocked Congress, including raising the minimum wage for federal contractors and stopping the deportation of many children who entered the United States illegally.
Most recently he directed the Department of Labor to extend family leave to same-sex couples and bar federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees.
He said Obama has eroded the power of the legislative branch under the Constitution and it was "in the best long-term interest of the country" for the House to stand up for its rights.
"Not only does the president regularly ignore the law, he brags about it and he brags about his willingness to change it unilaterally," Boehner said, adding that these order have resulted in "arrogance and incompetence straight down the line" from the administration.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest responded to Boehner's announcement by saying that such a suit would be funded by taxpayers and would not be supported by most Americans.
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