Today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4138, the “Executive Needs to Faithfully Oversee and Respect Congressional Enactments,” known as the ENFORCE the Law Act of 2014.  This legislation authorizes the House or Senate to sue the administration for failing to enforce federal law.  Idaho Congressman Simpson supported this legislation, which passed the House by a vote of 233-181.

“The Obama Administration has a habit of ignoring the will of Congress, defying the Constitution, and unilaterally changing laws.  This bill allows Congress to bring legal action against the Administration for this practice,” said Simpson.

There have been several high profile examples of the Obama Administration failing to enforce the law—including delaying the Obamacare employer mandate; refusing to enforce U.S. immigration laws; the illegal HHS mandate violating employers’ conscience rights; “recess” appointments; suspending federal criminal laws; and granting welfare work requirement waivers in violation of the 1996 welfare reform law 

H.R. 4138 puts a procedure in place to permit the House or Senate to authorize a lawsuit against the Executive Branch for failure to faithfully execute the laws.  It also sets up an expedited consideration process to ensure that when a lawsuit is brought, the courts not only grant Congress standing, but also hear the case quickly to prevent the President from stalling the litigation.