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Dr. Boozman's Check-up

President Obama has made a habit of picking and choosing which laws he wishes to enforce and abide by, hiding behind the power of executive order authority. This willingness to circumvent the law and Congressional authority is apparent when he gives waivers during the troubled rollout of his signature health care law, his decisions not to deport enforcement of immigration laws and a whole host of other areas.

For example, in the past year, the Obama Administration has delayed or modified Obamacare twenty times. Last week, the Administration announced it would yet again delay Obamacare’s minimum coverage requirements for health plans offered by insurance companies to avoid another wave of cancellations this fall.

The President’s role is to faithfully execute the law as written. Faithful execution of a law does not mean picking winners and losers.

It is not up to the President to selectively decide which portions of a law to enforce and which to ignore. Commonsense suggests that the President may enjoy some discretion while implementing a law, but willfully ignoring entire portions of a law far exceeds that leeway. 

This week, the House of Representatives took a step toward reining in these abuses of power by passing the ENFORCE the Law Act of 2014, which makes it easier for Congress, as part of its oversight powers, to sue the executive branch for failing to enforce the law. Read the bill below.

While the House was considering this very bill, I joined with Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) and twenty-two of our colleagues to introduce a companion bill in the Senate. It aims to eliminate the procedural hurdles put in front of previous attempts by Members of Congress, and ad hoc groups of Members, to seek judicial review of alleged failures by the president to faithfully execute the law.

This is not the President’s prerogative; it is the President’s responsibility. This bill will restore much-needed accountability back to the executive branch and put some teeth into Congressional oversight. 

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