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 In a partisan vote of 7-4, the House Rules Committee approved the
legislation, likely setting it up for consideration by the full
House next week. The Republican initiative already has spawned a
bitter debate with Democrats less than four months before mid-term
elections that will determine the political control of Congress next
year.
Any lawsuit likely would take years to wind through federal courts.
While the lawsuit would focus on Obamacare, Republicans have
complained bitterly about the president's actions on several issues.
For example, House Speaker John Boehner wrote in June that Obama's
use of executive orders, including raising the minimum wage for
federal contractors and stopping deportations of undocumented youths
brought to the United States by their parents, risked giving him a
"king-like authority."
But Boehner has tamped down calls from some fellow Republicans for
impeachment proceedings against Obama, which would be a first step
toward removing him from office.
House Republicans in 1998 spearheaded a successful drive to impeach
President Bill Clinton, also a Democrat. Clinton served out his
second term, however, after the Senate acquitted him of both
articles of impeachment involving perjury and obstruction of justice
related to a sexual affair he had with intern Monica Lewinsky.
The episode damaged Republicans politically.
The lawsuit, if approved by the full House, would focus on Obama's
implementation of his landmark healthcare law, known as "Obamacare,"
which Republicans have been trying to repeal for years. Republicans
claim Obama went beyond his legal authority and bypassed Congress
when he delayed some healthcare coverage mandates and granted
various waivers.
But Democrats have decried the suit as an election-year political
stunt and a waste of time and money. "It's shameful. It's
embarrassing and even the amount of time we're spending up here in
this office talking about it adds to the fact that the American
people are disgusted and have no faith in us to do anything,” said
Representative Louise Slaughter, the senior Democrat on the Rules
Committee.
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In a tense hearing that deteriorated into name-calling and bickering
over unrelated matters, from the administration's response to the
attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, to a
highway funding bill, Democrats demanded to know how much the suit
would cost taxpayers and which congressional accounts would see cuts
to pay for it.
Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas, said
funds would come from the House's Office of General Counsel. He said
he anticipated the suit would not require any extra appropriations,
but if needed, the Appropriations Committee could transfer money
from other House accounts.
The committee's Republican majority struck down amendment after
amendment offered by Democrats, including one ensuring lawyers with
a conflict of interest could not be involved in the lawsuit and
another that would trade some Democratic support for the suit for a
House vote on immigration reform.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu, Richard Cowan and Diane Craft)
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