House Clears Up to $350K for Lawsuit Against Obama

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The House of Representatives has hired Baker & Hostetler, one of America’s largest law firms, to the tune of $500 an hour — but a total not to exceed $350,000 — to represent the lower chamber in its lawsuit against President Obama.

In one of its final moves before the August recess, the House voted along partisan lines on July 30 to approve a resolution to initiate litigation against the president, accusing him of overreaching his executive authority in regard to unilaterally delaying the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

The House Committee on Administration Monday released a contract it approved that disclosed the details of the agreement. David B. Rivkin, partner, is named as the principal attorney for the lawsuit.

“No president is above nor should operate beyond the limits of the Constitution,” Rep. Candice Miller, the committee’s chairman, stated. “The House of Representatives, using regular order and the powers that the Constitution has provided, calls upon our government’s system of checks and balances and asks the judicial branch to examine the president’s failure to faithfully execute the law. The president must be held accountable, and the House will continue to act in an open and transparent manner to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”

As expected, Democrats are livid, complaining Republicans are wasting U.S. taxpayer money on a lawsuit they believe has questionable legal merit and puts the GOP on a course to impeach Obama.

“House Republicans continue to waste time and taxpayer-dollars on a lawsuit against the President of the United States,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote in a statement Tuesday. “Americans are tired of election-year stunts. They deserve leaders in Washington who will work to build an economy that works for everyone, not line the pockets of wealthy Washington lawyers and other special interests.”

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner declined to comment, although Boehner has been adamant in the past that he does not intend to impeach the president.

“We have no plans to impeach the president. We have no future plans,” Boehner said on July 29. “Listen, it’s all a scam started by Democrats at the White House.”

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