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 The 225-201 vote, along party lines, to authorize the suit will
allow House lawyers to draft legal documents over a five-week summer
recess starting on Friday.
The planned lawsuit is expected to generate months of bitter
campaign rhetoric from both Republicans and Democrats ahead of
November elections that will determine the political control of
Congress next year.
The suit is expected to claim that Obama, a Democrat, exceeded his
executive authority in making unilateral changes to the Affordable
Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Republicans argue that by delaying some healthcare coverage mandates
and granting various waivers, he bypassed Congress in violation of
the U.S. Constitution.
 Republicans have complained about other unilateral actions that
Obama has taken to advance his agenda, from executive orders on
immigration policy to same-sex partner benefits.
But they have narrowly focused the suit on the healthcare law
because "it is the option most likely to clear the legal hurdles
necessary to succeed," said Republican Representative Pete Sessions
of Texas, who chairs the House Rules Committee.
"This administration has effectively rewritten the law without
following the constitutional process," Sessions added.
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Democrats have slammed the lawsuit effort as a politically motivated
waste of taxpayer resources while Congress has failed to act on
other pressing issues including emergency funding to deal with a
flood of migrant children.
"This is a veiled attempt at impeaching the president," said
Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas.
(Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Caren Bohan and Sandra Maler)
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