This is the second part of an on going series in which I will cover the lawsuit initiated by the House of Representatives again President Obama.
Click here for Part I.Part III
In this article I will be reviewing H. Res.676
On July 30, 2014 H. Res. 676 passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 225 - 201, near completely down party lines.It was introduced on July 22, by Pete Sessions of Texas.
The text of the resolution reads as following:
H. Res. 676
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
July 30, 2014.
Resolved, That the Speaker is authorized to initiate or intervene in one or more civil actions on behalf of the House of Representatives in a Federal court of competent jurisdiction to seek any appropriate relief regarding the failure of the President, the head of any department or agency, or any other officer or employee of the executive branch, to act in a manner consistent with that official's duties under the Constitution and laws of the United States with respect to implementation of any provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, title I or subtitle B of title II of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, including any amendment made by such provision, or any other related provision of law, including a failure to implement any such provision.Sec. 2. The Speaker shall notify the House of Representatives of a decision to initiate or intervene in any civil action pursuant to this resolution.Sec. 3. (a) The Office of the General Counsel of the House of Representatives, at the direction of the Speaker, shall represent the House in any civil action initiated, or in which the House intervenes, pursuant to this resolution, and may employ the services of outside counsel and other experts for this purpose.(b) The chair of the Committee on House Administration shall cause to be printed in the Congressional Record a statement setting forth the aggregate amounts expended by the Office of General Counsel on outside counsel and other experts pursuant to subsection (a) on a quarterly basis. Such statement shall be submitted for printing not more than 30 days after the expiration of each such period.
There are several interesting issues that creep up in the Resolution. It sets forth that the scope of the civil action is limited to portions of the ACA including action for failing to implement a provision. It also also for multiple actions against the Executive Branch. So the lawsuit(s) is because the President either enforced or didn't enforce the ACA, or both? Ach Nee!
The Office of the General Counsel of the House of Representatives will represent the House, but the resolution allows for the services of outside counsel. How they will pay for outside counsel is at this point anyone's guess. Perhaps they will raise taxes or borrow from China.
So if Speaker Boehner elects to go forward with a lawsuit (or several) based upon the Resolution, we still do not know what he is suing over. There is no Cause of Action with in the Resolution which is highly problematic. There must be a reason for bring forward litigation. The House voted to sue the President without a Cause of Action. It's not good enough to say "we don't like Obama, and we don't like the ACA; therefore lawsuit." It just doesn't fucking work that way.
It frustratingly stupid. It's kind of like if a grad student submitted a midterm paper that was lacking a coherent thesis paragraph... but this is more important. Perhaps it's more like submitting your tax filings but instead of numbers there are emoticons. And damn near every Republican signed off on it.
Hahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaahahah stupid bastards....There are also no end dates so if a Republican President is ever in office and fails to implement the ACA or a section thereof and the Democrats regain the house. Wham!
The lack of a Cause of Action in the Resolution does not mean a lawsuit will automatically fail; it is the just an exemplar of how disreputable the 113th House Leadership is.
Liam '14
Part I.Part III
