Dive Brief:
- A Republican-led House on Wednesday approved a resolution authorizing a lawsuit against President Obama over alleged presidential overreaches in the implementation of the healthcare law. No Democrats supported the resolution.
- The GOP challenges the president's delay of the so-called employer mandate. The administration pushed back the mandate by a year in July 2013, and in January of this year, gave businesses with between 50 and 99 employees another year on top of that to comply.
- "Rather than faithfully execute the law as the constitution requires, I believe that the president has selectively enforced the law in some instances, ignored the law in other instances, and in a few cases unilaterally attempted to change the law altogether," said the chair of the House Committee on Rules, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas).
Dive Insight:
This is a largely political suit masquerading as a healthcare suit. The GOP takes issue with the president's use of his executive power in a number of arenas, but believe that focusing on the president's handling of the healthcare law gives them the best case. Even if it is determined that Speaker of the House John Boehner has the "standing," or legal right to proceed with the suit, the immediate impact on the ACA is likely to be minimal: Should the case go through and be decided in the favor of the plaintiffs, the employer mandate would be implemented sooner, rather than delayed under the Treasury Department's so-called "transition relief" authority. However, the Supreme Court likely won't reach a ruling on the case until summer 2016—months after the provision is supposed to go into effect anyway.
Want to read more? Check out this Monday Primer on Boehner's decision to sue the president.