Cantor tackles Obama’s ‘imperial presidency’

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Thursday accused President Obama of running an “imperial presidency” without regard for Congress.

In Cantor’s second report on the matter, he cited ObamaCare delays and a lack of immigration enforcement as two examples of how Obama has bypassed Congress to accomplish his policy agenda. 

{mosads}“Our founders created a series of checks and balances for our democracy to prevent any one of the three branches of government from becoming too powerful,” Cantor said in a statement. “Today, this system is under threat as the executive branch continues to bypass Congress and use executive action to promote its own agenda. Most evident of the Administration’s blatant disregard for the rule of law is the President’s selective implementation of ObamaCare.”

Cantor also pointed to the Obama administration’s so-called “war on coal,” controversial recess appointments, net neutrality rules, nuclear waste disposal and vehicle efficiency standards as examples of Obama going around Congress.

In many of these cases, the Obama administration is “ignoring the law, attempting to rewrite the law, or refusing to enforce the law,” Cantor said.

The Republican lawmaker’s biggest concern is with how the Obama administration is implementing the Affordable Care Act.

“Since its enactment, the administration has engaged in a series of ad-hoc announcements that ignore statutory deadlines, waive unwaivable provisions of the law, and even create benefits not authorized in law,” Cantor wrote.

Cantor also expressed concerns with the Obama administration’s refusal to enforce certain immigration laws.

“On August 23, 2013, the Obama administration issued a policy directive instructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials not to enforce immigration laws in cases in which the illegal immigrant is the primary provider for a minor child, regardless of the child’s immigration status, or in which the illegal immigrant is the parent or legal guardian of a child who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident,” Cantor wrote. “This is another example of President Obama abusing his authority and unilaterally refusing to enforce the immigration laws by directing officials to stop removing broad categories of unlawful immigrants.”

Cantor said the House Judiciary Committee this week is considering two Republican bills that would “restore balance to the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution.”

The Faithful Execution of the Law Act would require all federal agencies to inform Congress of the reasons why they are not enforcing certain laws. While the Executive Needs to Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enactments of the Law (ENFORCE the Law) Act would allow the House or Senate to sue the administration for not enforcing the laws.