GOP files suit against Obama administration

House Republicans have filed suit against President Barack Obama, claiming he overstepped his constitutional authority in enforcing parts of Obamacare.

GOP leaders made similar claims about the immigration reforms announced last night, but this suit doesn’t include that executive order. House lawmakers approved the lawsuit in July. It was filed today in Washington’s federal district court.

“If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a written statement announcing the lawsuit. “The House has an obligation to stand up for the Constitution, and that is exactly why we are pursuing this course of action.”

The president’s supporters blasted the effort as a political stunt and are using it in fundraising appeals. The complaint centers around the president’s decision last year to delay the employer mandate, which requires companies with 50 or more employees to offer health insurance or pay fines. That requirement was supposed to go into effect this year for companies with between 50 and 99 employees, but they now have until 2015 to comply.

The suit also protests the president’s plan to give $175 billion to insurance companies as reimbursement for lower rates they are supposed to offer under Obamacare. Although the Affordable Care Act established a fund to make those payments, Congress hasn’t authorized any money for it. The Obama administration is making the payments anyway.

“This lawsuit is a bald-faced attempt to achieve what Republicans have been unable to achieve through the political process,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “The legislative branch cannot sue simply because they disagree with the way a law passed by a different Congress has been implemented.”

Even some conservatives say Boehner is on shaky ground with the lawsuit, suggesting it’s up to the legislative branch to restrain an unruly executive, not the judicial branch.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.