“If a show trial is what House Republicans want, they should go talk to Judge Judy,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Monday.
In a Senate floor speech, the Nevada Democrat talked about the House of Representatives’ Republicans plan to sue President Barack Obama for overreaching executive authority. The House Rules Committee plans a hearing Wednesday.
Reid ripped into the plan.
“Just imagine how many lawsuits there would be if House Republicans could sue the President every time they disagreed with him about something. But there is no reasoning with the radical Republicans in the House,” he said.
Reid called the suit “inane,” adding, “The real irony is the subject: the Affordable Care Act. House Republican leaders maintain that Obama should have consulted Congress before delaying the employer mandate on health care coverage.
“Even more absurd is the fact that Republicans in Congress have long targeted this specific provision of comprehensive health reform. In fact, just after President Obama announced the delay of the employer provision, House Republicans voted on legislation to do the exact same thing, delaying the so-called mandate,” Reid said.
“Yet instead of applauding the President’s action, House Republicans would rather try a frivolous case worthy of daytime television’s ‘The People’s Court,’” Reid said.
“So, to sum up it all up: Republicans create an employer obligation provision in the Affordable Care Act; the Affordable Care Act becomes law; Republicans vilify the employer provision they themselves authored; Republicans demand the employer provision in Obamacare be delayed; President Obama agrees to delay employer provision; House Republicans sue President Obama for delaying employer provision.”
Reid contended “this is the behavior that we’ve come to expect from a Republican Party that is determined to undermine President Obama at all costs.”
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has defended the suit. “If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well. The House has an obligation to stand up for the Legislative Branch, and the Constitution, and that is exactly what we will do,” he said last week.
--"In my view, the President has not faithfully executed the laws when it comes to a range of issues, including his health care law, energy regulations, foreign policy and education," the Ohio Republican wrote in an op-ed piece for CNN.