GOP Challenging Obama's Executive Orders?

WASHINGTON DC | Congressional Republicans may be taking President Obama to court over the executive actions that Obama touted during the Jan. 28 State of the Union speech.

Obama's overtures to sidestep Congress and pass laws by himself are adding fresh urgency to Republicans' legal efforts. They say Obama is using his authority in ways never-before seen.

The Hill, a Washington journal, added: "[House] speaker John Boehner said Republicans would not sit idly by as Obama takes unilateral actions like raising the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 an hour."

GOP Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, noted: "We can go to court. We haven't got many more options except [to] tell the American people that we're seeing an abuse of the intent of the Constitution."

Republicans especially want to legally challenge the president on his Obamacare enactment. The National Security Agency's spying programs also have made the GOP's lawsuit list.

Speaker Boehner declared: "We're going to watch very closely, because there's a Constitution that we all take an oath to, including him, and following the Constitution is the basis for House Republicans."

But what WHDT alone dares to ask is this: What's what the GOP's sudden 'constitutional conscience'?

Take Obamacare: If constitutional checks and balances are paramount, then:
· Why did the GOP-led House allow Obamacare to become enshrined in law in the first place?

· And didn't the 2010 vote to approve the Affordable Care Act lay the groundwork for Obama's executive orders?

The Hill noted: "GOP lawmakers argue the administration's selective enforcement of the healthcare law amounts to an unconstitutional exercise of power. They point to [Obama's] decisions to delay health insurance requirements, cap out-of-pocket costs and expand the employer mandate penalty. They are also challenging the healthcare law's contraception mandate."

That mandate requires healthcare providers to make contraception available. Eighty-eight lawmakers have signed an amicus brief filed by Senators Roy Blunt of Missouri and Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia. It argues the Department of Health and Human Services violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in implementing the contraception mandate.

Meanwhile:
· Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky plans to file a class action lawsuit against the NSA.
And Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has sued the Office of Personnel Management for allowing lawmakers and their staffs to receive federal subsidies for their Obamacare coverage.

Democrats believe Obama is acting within his authority—which is doubtful at best. They say Republican obstruction has left Obama with little choice but to issue executive orders.

The war on terror is a major excuse for continual NSA spying in the first place. Back during the Bush administration, Republicans could have demanded that U.S. troops be brought home. And we're left to wonder whether the apparently unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were worthwhile at all.

Congress can de-fund nearly any program it dislikes through its normal legislative functions. If Congress wanted to de-fund the NSA tomorrow, it could. If Congress does not want Obamacare improperly applied, or doesn't want it at all, then the GOP would have to bite the proverbial bullet and repeal it.

But instead GOP lawmakers are looking to the courts, rather than harnessing their own legislative powers, to reign in an abusive president.

The very same Constitution they say Obama is abusing was abused by both parties when they launched the war on terror without the Constitutional requirement of Congress declaring war. What followed was a trillion-dollar war which, by its very nature, converted the U.S. into a spy state at home and a perceived bully abroad.
Filing lawsuits makes big headlines. Some of the lawsuits may have merit. But this approach suggests that Congress is the weakest branch of government. The nation's founders would have expected better. A weaker executive and stronger Congress would be their advice.
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