GOP takes first step toward suing Obama

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans took the initial step on Thursday to sue President Obama over the administration's decision to delay the employer mandate of the health care law.

Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced that Republicans had released a draft resolution that would authorize the House to file suit amid GOP criticism that the president has declined to faithfully execute the laws of the country.

"In 2013, the president changed the health care law without a vote of Congress, effectively creating his own law by literally waiving the employer mandate and the penalties for failing to comply with it," Boehner said in a statement. "That's not the way our system of government was designed to work. No president should have the power to make laws on his or her own."

The House Rules Committee has scheduled a hearing on the resolution next week, with a House vote later this month.

Mr. Obama has called the GOP effort a "stunt" and criticized lawmakers for inaction on legislation such as a stalled bill to overhaul the nation's immigration system.

Boehner's actions on the lawsuit come as some Republicans are demanding a far more formidable step -- impeachment.

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and others have called for Mr. Obama's impeachment. Boehner said Thursday that he disagrees with those calls, but asserts that others can make a determination on their own whether the chief executive deserves it.