http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/230868-house-preparing-to-sue-obama-over-immigrationJanuary 27, 2015, 12:46 pm
House plots new lawsuit against Obama's immigration orders
By Cristina Marcos
The House is taking action to sue president Obama over his executive actions that gave legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) apprised House Republicans of the plan, which is still being finalized, during the weekly conference meeting Tuesday morning.
“We are finalizing a plan to authorize litigation on this issue - one we believe gives us the best chance of success," Boehner told members, according to a source in the room.
Under the emerging plan, members would vote on a resolution authorizing the House to take various legal actions. Options could include filing a new lawsuit against the president or joining the states' lawsuit against the executive action.
Last year, the House voted to sue Obama over his use of executive actions delaying the healthcare law's employer mandate, which requires businesses with 50 or more full-time workers to provide insurance.
Boehner's announcement comes a day after GOP leadership pulled a controversial border security bill from the floor.
Leadership aides said the decision was a result of the truncated workweek due to inclement weather and the House Democratic retreat. But the measure appeared to be in trouble due to immigration hard-liners' concerns that it wouldn't truly secure the border and was a step toward abandoning a pledge to fight the president's immigration actions.
Separately, Congress is struggling over a funding plan for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by a Feb. 27 deadline.
The House has approved a funding bill with language to defund President Obama's executive actions on immigration, but it is dead on arrival in the Senate.
The lawsuit regarding the healthcare law is still mired in the legal process. House Republicans had difficulty finding a lawyer to represent their case until late last year.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), through a spokesman, blasted the emerging new lawsuit.
"Republicans’ radical anti-immigrant legislation is dead on arrival. Once again, House Republicans are crawling to the courts to relieve them of their responsibility to govern," Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said.
