Miller says House resolution to challenge President’s failure to adhere to Constitution necessary to restore checks and balances

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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10), Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, voted in favor of a House resolution (H. Res. 676) that authorizes the U.S. House of Representatives to file suit against President Obama for failing to uphold his constitutional obligation to enforce U.S. law. Prior to House passage, Rep. Miller delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in support of the resolution:

“The ultimate law of our great nation is not the important work we undertake here in this House, above all, it is the Constitution we all swear to preserve, protect and defend.

“The first words of the Constitution, Article 1, Section 1, are the following:

‘All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.’

“Not some, but all legislative powers are vested in the Congress of the United States. No other entity of our federal government has the power to write law – not the executive branch or the judicial branch – only Congress.

“Article 1, Section 7, states the following:

‘Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approves he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it…’

“If he approves, it shall become law, if not, he vetoes the law and sends it back to Congress. Nowhere is the President given the authority to rewrite the law on his own.

“And Article 2, Section 3, places the following responsibility with the President:

‘He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’

“This resolution asks the third branch of government, the judicial branch, to solve problems arising from the President’s failure to faithfully execute the law, specifically aspects of the Affordable Care Act, as he is required in Article 2, Section 3, and to have exercised power expressly given to Congress to write the law under Article 1.

“The founders in their genius put in place this system of checks and balances for a very important purpose, which is to make certain that no one person could both impose and enforce the law, because that type of action amounts to tyranny. In short, we have no king in this nation.

“As the Representative of the people of the 10th District of Michigan, and someone who is sworn to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, I believe strongly that I have a responsibility to support this resolution so that the courts can affirm that legislative power is vested in this House, the People’s House, and not in the White House.

“As the Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, I will have the responsibility to verify that any contracts with those who will litigate this case comport to the rules of the House. That is a responsibility that I take very seriously.

“As such, many on the minority side have asked how much this will cost. My answer is that we do not yet know because no contracts have been negotiated and we do not know how long such litigation will take to conclude.

“But the questions I would ask are ‘what price do you put on the adherence to the rule of law?’ ‘What price do you place on the continuation of our system of checks and balances?’ And ‘what price would you place on our Constitution?’

“My answer to each is ‘priceless.’ I can assure all of my colleagues that this process will move forward with due diligence, it will be conducted within the rules of this House, and it is my firm hope that, in the end, the courts will uphold the constitutional principles that are the bedrock upon which our great nation has been built.”

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