By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R) from Montrose announced that he has become an original cosponsor of the Faithful Execution of the Law Act. The legislation was introduced by Representative Ron DeSantis (R) from Florida. This bill amends Title 28 of the U.S. Code to require that any federal official not fully enforcing a law to report it to Congress with the exact reason for its non-enforcement. The bill is an attempt to address President Obama’s selective enforcement of the law.
Rep. Byrne said: “The Obama Administration has been open and honest about one thing in particular: they have no problem making an end-run around Congress to achieve through administrative means what they cannot legislatively. Placing political convenience above the United States Constitution goes against everything the Founding Fathers intended, and it’s time we put a stop to this practice.”
Congressman Byrne said, “The Faithful Execution of the Law Act brings transparency and accountability into the rulemaking process. It disallows the Obama Administration from politicizing rules governing the President’s health care law or immigration policy. This legislation restores the balance of power intended by the Constitution, and I believe it is the right thing to do. I look forward to working with Representative DeSantis and our conservative colleagues in the House to move this bill forward.”
Congresswoman Martha Roby said recently, “Under our system, the Legislative Branch enacts the laws and the Executive Branch enforces the laws as they are written, with some reasonable discretion to promulgate details. But, too often the Obama Administration has selectively enforced or, in some cases, altogether waived certain laws based on its preferred ideology. That effectively makes the President a “super-legislator” of sorts. He can pick and choose which laws matter, and which don’t. This must stop.” Rep. Roby is a co-sponsor of the S.T.O.P. resolution which would urge Congress to sue the administration for acts of blatant defiance of federal law.
Rep. Roby continued, “The Obama Administration is not the first to overstep its Constitutional authority. Most presidents in recent history have pushed the limits of executive power. However, the actions taken in the last few years have been especially blatant. President Obama and his administration have recklessly stretched the scope of the executive, aggressively imposing by administrative rule or regulation what they could not achieve legislatively. And, amazingly, in some cases the Administration has moved to delay, tweak, or otherwise alter the very healthcare law it pushed to enact – all while dismissing legislative proposals that would have the same effect, but had the benefit of being legal.”
Rep. Roby said, “If allowed to stand unchecked, these actions present a dangerous threat to our Constitutional separation of powers.
In another unilateral action, on Monday the Obama administration announced it was postponing the employer mandate for businesses with 50 to 99 employees for yet another year, due to concerns that fully implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act might hurt Democrats in the 2014 election.
Rep. Bradley Byrne was recently elected to Congress in a tightly contested special election. No Democrat or Republican candidate qualified against Congressman Byrne making it very likely that Rep. Byrne will win his first full term in 2014.
Rep. Roby is seeking a third term in the 2014 elections. Erick Wright (D) is challenging Rep. Roby in the general election.
