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7 Times Obama Ignored the Law to Impose His Executive Will
Heritage Foundation ^ | February 14, 2014 | Amy Payne

Posted on 02/14/2014 4:52:46 AM PST by iowamark

President Obama—the imperial President, the “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone” President who can’t wait to show us his “year of action”—once vowed to do exactly the opposite.

"The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m President of the United States of America."

That was candidate Obama back in 2008. This comment somehow slipped under the radar for the past few years and resurfaced this week.

1. Delaying Obamacare’s employer mandate

The Administration announced that Obamacare won’t be implemented as it was passed, so employers with 50 or more employees don’t have to provide the mandated health coverage for at least another year (and longer if they play their cards right). Slattery and Kloster observe that “The law does not authorize the President to push back the employer mandate’s effective date.”

2. Giving Congress and their staffs special taxpayer-funded subsidies for Obamacare

It was uncomfortable for Members of Congress when they realized that, through Obamacare, they had kicked themselves and their staffs out of the taxpayer-funded subsidies they were enjoying for health coverage. But the Administration said no problem and gave them new subsidies. In this case, “the Administration opted to stretch the law to save Obamacare—at the taxpayers’ expense.”

3. Trying to fulfill the “If you like your plan, you can keep it” promise—after it was broken

When Americans started getting cancellation notices from their insurance companies because Obamacare’s new rules were kicking in, the President’s broken promise was exposed. He tried to fix things by telling insurance companies to go back to old plans that don’t comply with Obamacare—just for one year. Slattery and Kloster note that “The letter announcing this non-enforcement has no basis in law.”

4. Preventing layoff notices from going out just days before the 2012 election

There’s a law that says large employers have to give employees 60 days’ notice before mass layoffs. And layoffs were looming due to federal budget cuts in 2012. But the Obama Administration told employers to go against the law and not issue those notices—which would have hit mailboxes just days before the presidential election. The Administration “also offered to reimburse those employers at the taxpayers’ expense if challenged for failure to give that notice.”

5. Gutting the work requirement from welfare reform

The welfare reform that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1996 required that welfare recipients in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program work or prepare for work to receive the aid. The Obama Administration essentially took out that requirement by offering waivers to states, even though the law expressly states that waivers of the work requirement are not allowed. “Despite [the law’s] unambiguous language, the Obama Administration continues to flout the law with its ‘revisionist’ interpretation,” write Slattery and Kloster.

6. Stonewalling an application for storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain

This was another case where the Administration simply refused to do what was required by law. An application was submitted for nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain, but “Despite the legal requirement, the Obama Administration refused to consider the application.”

7. Making “recess” appointments that were not really recess appointments

Slattery and Kloster explain that “In January 2012, President Obama made four ‘recess’ appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, claiming that, since the Senate was conducting only periodic pro forma sessions, it was not available to confirm those appointees.” The catch: The Senate wasn’t in recess at the time. Courts have since struck down the appointments, but the illegitimate appointees already moved forward some harmful policies.

MORE: Slattery and Kloster list even more actions that, while they might not be illegal, are definitely abuses of executive power. That list includes imposing new immigration law by executive fiat and refusing to enforce more than one federal law.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: eo; executiveorders; obamadictator; obamagraphics; obamcare; pen; phone; recess; regulations; unconsitutional; waivers; yearofaction

1 posted on 02/14/2014 4:52:46 AM PST by iowamark
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To: iowamark

2 posted on 02/14/2014 4:55:42 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

3 posted on 02/14/2014 4:57:16 AM PST by Diogenesis
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To: iowamark

It’s like boiling a frog. He does it more and more so that the low information(frog) voters don’t even take notice. The king reigns because he “can do anything I want”.


4 posted on 02/14/2014 5:11:34 AM PST by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: Diogenesis
The difference between them are, one was a Republican and one is a Democrat [Socialists]. One loved America, one hates America. One went after a Communists in his younger days and got him. The other places Communists in the highest positions of our Government. The media hated one and worship where the other pisses. The media hated one and did everything in their power to get him and the media protects the other. The traitors, parasites, and degenerates hated one and the parasites, traitors, and degenerates love and worship the other. And last but not least, according to how the people of the United States of America vote, there are more parasites, traitors, and degenerates that Patriotic, Freedom loving individuals in America today. No Nation that continues to elect Democrats and individuals of Obama's ilk to lead them will survive as a Nation of freedoms.
5 posted on 02/14/2014 5:13:57 AM PST by sport
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To: iowamark

Obama is Law-Less because Republican “leaders” are BALL-LESS!!


6 posted on 02/14/2014 5:15:55 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion......the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Ann Archy

From your lips to God’s ear. Truth.


7 posted on 02/14/2014 5:43:27 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: iowamark

lawlessness,

that word has been appearing alot more lately,

“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12

I don’t recall another time, when so many commentators or even our own witness of the times, thought directly in these terms, that is, the more we see this applicable directly in our so-called ‘leaders’ as a general witness of this day moving closer,

“Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; . . “ 2 Thessalonians 2:8


8 posted on 02/14/2014 6:14:02 AM PST by captmar-vell
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To: iowamark

And the numbnuts in Congress are only ‘considering’ articles of impeachment. What more do they need?


9 posted on 02/14/2014 6:18:01 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: iowamark

Three times the Democrats denied God at their convention. Now seven times Obama has broken the law to appease his whims. Is there something Biblical here?


10 posted on 02/14/2014 8:09:58 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (WoT News: Rantburg.com)
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To: DoodleDawg

just one more...

Legal Cloud Hangs Over President Obama’s Illegal Minimum Wage Hike
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3116755/posts


11 posted on 02/14/2014 8:28:11 AM PST by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad and lived with his parents .)
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To: Travis McGee

Attorney General Eric Holder can’t explain constitutional basis for Obama’s executive orders
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3117402/posts


12 posted on 02/14/2014 8:29:56 AM PST by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad and lived with his parents .)
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