GOP: Obama exceeds authority in case after case
WASHINGTON – In the courts of law and public opinion, congressional Republicans increasingly accuse President Barack Obama of exceeding his constitutional authority for the benefit of special interests, most recently by delaying a requirement for businesses to provide health care for their workers.
In one instance, Senate Republicans formally backed a lawsuit challenging the president’s appointment of three members of the National Labor Relations Board without confirmation. The Supreme Court has agreed to review a ruling in the case, which found that Obama overstepped his bounds.
Most recently, the White House’s decision to postpone a key part of the president’s health-care law drew rhetorical denunciations Tuesday from Republicans.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the action was part of a pattern of “indifference to the rule of law on the part of this administration. ... He did it with immigration. He did it with welfare work requirements. And he did it with the NLRB when he took it upon himself to tell another branch of government when it was in recess.
No Afghan troop decision, White House reports
WASHINGTON – The United States has not decided on troop levels in Afghanistan after 2014, including an option that would leave no U.S. forces beyond that year, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.
The United States and Afghanistan are talking about whether an American residual force should remain after combat operations end in 2014.
The “zero option” – no U.S. troops after 2014 – “has always been available,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, but the final decision will be based on “political objectives” that include the stability and security of Afghanistan.
Associated Press and USA TODAY
