President Obama Uses His Weekly Address To Annihilate John Boehner and His Lawsuit

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President Obama used his weekly address to unload on John Boehner’s partisan lawsuit by calling it, “a political stunt that’s going to waste months of America’s time. And by the way, they’re going to pay for it using your hard-earned tax dollars.”

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The president said:

These are the things we should be doing to grow the middle class and help folks work their way into the middle class. And it’s pretty uncontroversial stuff. I hope we can work together on it. And I’m always willing to compromise if folks have other ideas or if it advances generally the interests of working Americans.

But so far this year, Republicans in Congress have blocked every serious idea to strengthen the middle class. Lifting the minimum wage, fair pay, student loan reform – they’ve said no to all of it. And that’s when I’ve acted this year to help working Americans on my own- when Congress won’t act.

I’ve taken actions to attract new jobs, lift workers’ wages, help students pay off their loans, and more. And the Republican plan right now is not to do some of this work with me – instead, it’s to sue me. That’s actually what they’re spending their time on. It’s a political stunt that’s going to waste months of America’s time. And by the way, they’re going to pay for it using your hard-earned tax dollars.

I have a better idea: do something, Congress. Do anything to help working Americans. Join the rest of the country. Join me, I’m looking forward to working with you.

There has been some hand-wringing based on a recent article on The Daily Beast that stated that Boehner’s lawsuit could be successful. The article was written by Ron Christie, who was a member of Dick Cheney’s staff during the Bush administration. Christie is also a Republican strategist who specializes in communications. His whole theory that the lawsuit will be successful is centered around the idea that since the Supreme Court said Obama overstepped on his recess NLRB appointment, any court will rule that the president overstepped on the ACA.

The problem with this argument is that it leaves out why the Supreme Court said Obama overstepped on the recess appointments. The Court didn’t rule that Obama doesn’t have the authority to make these appointments but that the Senate wasn’t in full recess when he made them. Republicans won on a technicality that had nothing to do with the legitimacy of presidential recess appointment power.

Being that Christie worked in the Bush White House, it isn’t surprising that he left out the most likely reason why Obama will win if this lawsuit goes to court. If Obama wins it will be in part because George W. Bush did the exact same thing with the rollout of Medicare Part D, “With pressure mounting to extend next Monday’s enrollment deadline for the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, the Bush administration took another small step in that direction Tuesday, waiving penalty fees for very low-income seniors and people with disabilities who sign up late….The move follows a recent administration decision to allow the same impoverished beneficiaries to sign up for Medicare drug coverage until Dec. 31.”

The president was correct. Boehner’s lawsuit is a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. Remember, the same crowd who think that Boehner could win his lawsuit were also certain that the Supreme Court would find the ACA unconstitutional. The reason why Boehner is so desperate to fast track his lawsuit to the Supreme Court is that the Koch controlled High Court is the only place where he might win. The problem is that his bill to fast track the lawsuit will never pass the Senate as long as Harry Reid is Majority Leader, so it is just another Republican gimmick.

In the meantime, Boehner has handed Obama a club and he is beating the Republican Party over the head with it. Republicans and the Supreme Court have given Obama and the Democrats their themes for 2014. Democrats are using the Hobby Lobby decision to remind women why they can’t stay home this year, and they using Boehner’s lawsuit to run against the current do less than nothing Congress.

Somebody needs tell John Boehner that this isn’t Judge Judy. He isn’t going to get a quick and easy win. His lawsuit stunt will cost the taxpayers millions while making sure that nothing gets done that will actually help the American people. Speaker Boehner has set his own Republicans up, and Obama and the Democrats are prepared to knock them down.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association