White House: Boehner Lawsuit Is ‘Higher Gear’ Of GOP Obstructionism

President Barack Obama talks with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, prior to speaking to media, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, before a meeting with members of Congres... President Barack Obama talks with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, prior to speaking to media, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, before a meeting with members of Congress to discuss the situation in Syria. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) MORE LESS

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that House Speaker John Boehner’s planned lawsuit against President Obama for his use of executive action is a “higher gear” of GOP obstructionism than previously seen.

“For a long time, we’ve seen Republicans block progress in Congress,” Earnest said when asked about the lawsuit at the daily White House press briefing. “But in this case, it seems that Republicans have shifted their opposition into a higher gear. It’s a gear that I previously didn’t know existed.”

Boehner said Wednesday that he would sue the administration over Obama’s executive actions, though he did not specify which ones would be challenged in court.

“The fact that they are considering a taxpayer-funded lawsuit against the President of the United States for doing his job, I think is the kind of step that most Americans wouldn’t support,” Earnest said.

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  1. They don’t care about ‘most’ Americans (they’ve demonstrated that over the last six years). They are doing this for their base and for their donors.

    They sort of missed the message as was stated in Mississippi yesterday with the run-off election that ‘most’ Americans don’t favor their stand.

    As long as they continue to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as happened yesterday, they will move farther to the right and continue to alienate voters.

    Couldn’t happen to a better bunch. I’m all in favor of opposition, as long as the opposition has an actual position beyond ‘we just don’t like the guy’.

  2. If this is a higher gear, Boehner must be the knob. Shifter knob.

  3. Once again, he’s trying to save his job. If John of Orange doesn’t do something to quell the TPers who are pissed he didn’t hand a leadership job to one of them, he is out as Speaker (or, hopefully, Minority Leader) next year. Fact.

  4. Avatar for mymy mymy says:

    The GOP is becoming increasingly ridiculous and irrelevant to good governance. It was good to see McDaniel defeated–when he was asked what he could do for his constituents if elected he answered, “Nothing. I want to get government off your backs so you can do for yourself.”

    That anti-government stance was roundly rejected by the voters, Dem and GOP, black and white of Mississippi. And once it gets clearer and clearer to the people who vote, this scenario will be repeated across the nation. The GOP is losing big time with its NONSENSE.

  5. Avatar for okay okay says:

    Alaska Fish and Wildlife Federation and Outdoor Council, Inc. v. Dunkle, 829 F.2d 933, 938 (9th Cir. 1987), basically stated that the Executive Branch can set aside the enforcement of a law via policy.

    Look it up.

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