US House to sue Obama

The Republican-led House of Representatives voted Wednesday to sue President Barack Obama for allegedly overstepping his powers, a move swiftly denounced by his Democratic allies as a cynical election-year stunt.
By a party-line vote of 225 to 201, the House voted to resort to the unprecedented move of taking the president to court for not having stringently followed the letter of the law while implementing his signature "Obamacare" health care reform bill.
The measure, which would empower House Speaker John Boehner to start the legal proceedings, is meant to rein in a president besotted by power, the top House Republican said from the floor of the chamber.
"This isn't about Republicans or Democrats. It's about defending the Constitution that we swore an oath to uphold, and acting decisively when it may be compromised," Boehner said.
Boehner told his fellow lawmakers that Obama violated the country's founding document by not adhering rigidly to the wording of the law when implementing the health reform law.
Obama, for his part, has been derisive in dismissing the suit, making it a punchline again during a speech in Kansas City, Missouri.
"Instead of suing me for doing my job, I want Congress to do its job and make life a little better for the Americans who sent them there in the first place," he said to cheers and applause from a supportive crowd.
"And by the way," he added, "you know who's paying for this suit they're going to file? You."
The move toward a lawsuit is the latest sign of extreme gridlock and discord in Washington, with the two major political parties constantly at loggerheads, and Obama and his congressional opponents unable to work together to pass and enact legislation.
The discord is heightened by the fact that mid-term elections to replace the entire House and a third of the US Senate are just a few months away.