Trey Gowdy, a Representative from South Caroline, is a rock star amongst conservatives. He has been loud and outspoken in his critiques of both Obama’s administration and Democrats in general, including calling Nancy Pelosi “mind-numbingly stupid”. He has said that Obama’s lawlessness has reached an unprecedented level, is suing the administration over its changes to Obamacare, and has even called for the House to defund Obama’s many vacations. Now Gowdy has joined with Rep. Darrel Issa and Rep. Bob Goodlatte in introducing legislation that would help reign in an overreaching Executive Branch. Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) today introduced the Executive Needs to Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enactments of the Law (ENFORCE the Law) Act (H.R. 4138) to rein in the growing problem of executive overreach and restore balance to the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution. Article II, section 3, of the U.S. Constitution declares that the President “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” However, President Obama has failed on several occasions to enforce Acts of Congress that he disagrees with for policy reasons and has also stretched his regulatory authority to put in place policies Congress has refused to enact. While President Obama is not the first to stretch presidential powers beyond their constitutional limits, executive overreach has accelerated at an alarming rate under his Administration. To prevent executive overreach, the ENFORCE the Law Act puts a procedure in place to permit the House, or the Senate, to authorize a lawsuit against the Executive Branch for failure to faithfully execute the laws. The legislation also provides for expedited consideration of any such lawsuit, first through a three-judge panel at the federal district court level and then by providing for direct appeal to the United States Supreme Court. This expedited review is crucial in order to ensure that when a lawsuit is brought against the Administration to enforce our laws, the courts not only grant Congress standing, but also hear the case on an expedited timeline to prevent the President from stalling the litigation until his term is up. Congressman Gowdy also released a statement, saying: “This administration’s disregard for the law has reached an unprecedented level from a constitutional perspective. From unilaterally changing the Affordable Care Act, to suspending parts of our immigration laws, to ignoring statutory mandatory minimum laws in narcotics cases, the President’s actions threaten to usurp our system of co-equal branches of government. We have pursued certain remedies afforded to Congress to address executive overreach but these efforts have been thwarted. This bill is necessary; it will give Congress the authority to defend this branch of government as the Framers and our fellow citizens would expect.The Constitution is clear: the President has a duty to faithfully execute the law—regardless of whether he likes the law or if it is politically expedient.” Whether or not you agree with Trey Gowdy on every issue, or even if you happen to like some of the things that Obama has done, it is clear that he is not working within the framework of the Constitution. There are ways to change laws you don’t like, and that requires going through Congress. It is a shame that the situation in our nation’s capitol has come to this point, that members of Congress feel the need to sue a President in Federal court in order to stop their lawlessness. But after a long and successive string of Presidents acting above and beyond the Constitutional bounds of their office, something must be done. Even if this legislation is killed by the likes of John Boehner and Harry Reid, or stalled long enough to not have an effect on Obama, it is still necessary to ensure that future Presidents be held to account for their actions in office, and made to obey their duty of faithfully enforcing each and every law. Please share this on Facebook and Twitter if you support Trey Gowdy’s ENFORCE the Law Act, even if you think it is sad we have to have legislation like that.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 06:26:27 +0000
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