[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 104 (Friday, July 19, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H4818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WE HAVE A PRESIDENT, NOT A KING
(Mr. STEWART asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. STEWART. Mr. Speaker, I wish that our President had the same
respect for our Constitution that our Founding Fathers had, but he
doesn't. He simply doesn't; for far too many of his political decisions
are made with little regard for the sacred document that has guided our
Nation for more than 200 years.
Several weeks ago, the President announced that he is not going to
enforce certain provisions of ObamaCare. Now, whether it is a good
policy or bad policy is not the point. The point is the President does
not have the authority to make such a decision. The President is
constitutionally bound to enforce the laws of the land.
How would my Democratic friends feel if Mitt Romney had been elected
and in his first day in office he had decided that he was going to pick
and choose which parts of ObamaCare he was going to enforce? Or what if
he decided that the capital gains tax was a drag on the economy and he
was no longer going to enforce that law?
The President's willingness to pick and choose which laws he will
enforce is dangerous and demeaning to our democracy. It's demeaning to
the very idea of an elected form of government. We have a President,
not a King.
I hope the President will remember his constitutional oath.
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