The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution to sue President Barack Obama for allegedly exceeding his constitutional powers.
The vote was 225-201, with Republicans thought to be the majority voting in favour for the action.
This means House lawyers will now draft legal documents to launch a lawsuit. Its supporters say the president exceeded his powers when he delayed an insurance deadline in his healthcare law.
The president himself has dismissed it as a waste of time.
“Everyone sees this as a political stunt,” President Obama has said. “If they’re not going to do anything, we’ll do what we can on our own,” the president added.
The action is reportedly the first time either the House or Senate has brought legal action against a president over the legality of his powers, although members of Congress have sued the president before.
Republicans in Congress have complained that Mr Obama has exceeded his constitutional authority on numerous occasions, in order to bypass Congress by issuing executive orders.
The House of Representatives is one of Congress’s two chambers (the other is the U.S. Senate), and part of the federal government’s legislative branch. The number of voting representatives in the House proportionally represents the population of the 50 states.
Credit: BBC
