Benishek says House move to sue Obama is about protecting Constitution

Things may be some what cool around here, but they’re heating up in Washington, where for the first time in history, the U.S. House of Representatives has authorized an institutionally-backed lawsuit against the President of the United States.

The lawsuit has come out of House Republican claims that President Obama’s handling of the Affordable Care Act is an abuse of power, saying the legal action was designed to prevent future power grabs. Democrats called the effort a political stunt.

We spoke with the U.P.’s representative in the House about the issue, asking why he felt the unprecedented move was necessary.

“To me, it’s not about partisanship, to tell you the truth; it’s about the Constitution,” Rep. Dan Benishek said. “Our founding fathers came up with a system of government in that the legislature wrote the laws and the executive carries them out. This lawsuit is about making sure that the executive executes the law as written and doesn’t change the law. It’s about following the Constitution, not only with this president, but with all future presidents. They do not have the constitutional authority to change the law.”

This afternoon, Benishek voted to send their version of legislation to replenish the Highway Trust Fund back to the Senate. A majority of his colleagues in the House did the same.

Unless the House and Senate can agree on a measure tonight, the federal government will cut and delay transportation financing to states beginning tomorrow.