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| Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. gestures as he speaks with reporters on Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 9, 2013. In the courts of law and public opinion, congressional Republicans increasingly accuse President Barack Obama of exceeding his Constitutional authority for the benefit of special interests, most recently by delaying a requirement for businesses to provide health care for their workers. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- In the courts of law and public opinion, congressional
Republicans increasingly accuse President Barack Obama of exceeding his
constitutional authority for the benefit of special interests, most
recently by delaying a requirement for businesses to provide health care
for their workers.
In one instance, Senate
Republicans formally backed a lawsuit challenging the president's
appointment of three members of the National Labor Relations Board
without confirmation. The Supreme Court has agreed to review a ruling in
the case, which found that Obama overstepped his bounds.
Most
recently, the White House's decision to postpone a key part of the
president's health care law drew rhetorical denunciations Tuesday from
Republicans who, ironically, want to see the law repealed in its
entirety.
Senate Republican leader Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky said the action was part of a pattern of
"indifference to the rule of law on the part of this administration. ...
He did it with immigration. He did it with welfare work requirements.
And he did it with the NLRB when he took it upon himself to tell another
branch of government when it was in recess.
"And
now he's doing it again with his own signature health care law," said
McConnell, who is seeking re-election next year in a state where Obama
is unpopular.
White House press secretary Jay
Carney had no comment on McConnell's complaint that the administration
is indifferent to the rule of law. The White House disputes each
allegation in turn, citing specific legal authority for the president's
actions, or saying the assertion was factually incorrect.
Oddly
enough, on one particularly incendiary issue, Obama so far has rejected
suggestions that he has authority to continue government borrowing
without a vote by Congress to raise the debt ceiling. To switch course
would inevitably invite a lawsuit.
Whatever
the merits of the Republican claims, they sometimes include a dose of
politics of the sort they accuse Obama of playing.
Rep.
Steve King, R-Iowa, threatened to sue when Obama announced several
weeks before the 2012
election that he would stop deportation
proceedings against many younger immigrants who are in the country
illegally, so long as they went to college or served in the military.
The move was widely viewed as a gesture to Hispanic voters, many of whom
live in key battleground states.
A suit
subsequently was filed by federal immigration enforcement agents, and
King was not a party to it, although his office says it was the product
of a meeting he called. King also used the issue to raise money for his
own re-election to Congress last fall, emailing potential donors that
Obama "refuses to enforce immigration laws."
In
addition to challenging Obama's adherence to the rule of law,
McConnell's speech included a pre-emptive attack in case Democrats try
to change Senate rules this summer and make it easier to confirm
presidential appointees.
"I know Washington
Democrats are getting a lot of pressure from big labor union bosses and
other far-left elements of their base to do this," the Kentucky
Republican said. "These folks have told Democrats it's time to pay up,
and they don't have much time for things like the democratic process or
the rule of law."
He spoke at about the same
time House Democrats and union leaders held a news conference to
pressure Republicans not to block confirmation for several appointments,
including at the NLRB, which rules on collective bargaining disputes
between employees and companies.
"Whatever it
takes to get these nominees through, an up or down vote is what we
want," said Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO's legislative director. "That might
very well include a change in the rules to make it impossible for the
Republicans to filibuster the nominations."
The lawsuit backed by Senate Republicans challenged Obama's so-called recess appointments of three members of the NLRB.
The
Constitution gives the president authority to make appointments without
confirmation when the Senate is in recess. In the case at issue, Obama
acted at a time Congress was away on an extended holiday break, but the
Senate met every three days as part of an explicit strategy by
Republicans to prevent such appointments.
Rejecting
the administration's arguments, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court
of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled that recess appointments can be
made only during the once-a-year break between sessions of Congress,
typically at the end of the year.
Two judges
on the panel also ruled that to qualify for a recess appointment, a
position must become vacant while the Senate is in recess.
Despite Republican allegations, administration officials cite specific legal authority for some of Obama's actions.
The
Treasury Department said the one-year waiver of the requirement for
companies to provide health insurance announced last week was "an
exercise of the administrative authority" granted by law when it comes
to implementing new legislation like the health care act.
One
official cited other recent examples of waivers under the same
authority. A case in 2011 said aviation excise taxes that had lapsed and
then been reinstated would not be applied for a three-week period
ending the day Congress re-enacted them.
The
other, from 2007, related to standards for penalties on income tax
preparers, according to the official, who citing department regulations
in speaking on condition of anonymity.
A year
ago, when Obama announced the shift in immigration policy, Homeland
Security Secretary Janet Napolitano cited "prosecutorial discretion."
McConnell's
reference to welfare relates to a charge by Republicans that the
administration proposed new rules to lessen the work requirements
implemented as part of a 1996 overhaul of the program. The White House
denies the proposal had that effect.
