Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took his rhetoric against President Obama to a new level Tuesday, accusing him of defying and disregarding federal law.
“There is a pattern of lawlessness in this administration that is breathtaking,” Cruz told Glenn Beck on his radio program Tuesday.
Cruz joined the program to tout his latest report chronicling what he considers to be the president’s attempts to expand federal power. In focusing specifically on Texas, the Republican senator points to multiple cases to prove his case, including the Supreme Court decision striking down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, which he argues made federal preclearance requirements for Texas’s redistricting unconstitutional.
“We have never seen a president like President Obama who if he doesn’t agree with the federal law he refuses to enforce it and he openly defies it, over and over and over again. He simply disregards the law, and that ought to concern everybody, not just Republicans but Democrats, Independents, Libertarians,” Cruz said, accusing the president of wielding unchecked power.
Beck countered that if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner “believed in the Constitution, we would have special investigators left and right because we have seen the violation of the Constitution over and over and over again.”
“These assertions of power are brazen,” Cruz responded in agreement, although he stopped short of calling on his colleagues to take any specific action but saying he was “hopeful” more people would “stand up.”
When pressed for details, Cruz spoke at length about Obama’s recess appointments, including a case involving the National Labor Relations Board that the Supreme Court will consider this year. He also knocked the president for “picking and choosing” how to apply provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
“If a president can pick and choose which laws to follow, he’s not a president,” Cruz added. “That’s dangerous.”
Obama’s State of the Union promise to sign more executive orders has ignited a new round of Republican criticisms in recent days, including comments Rep. Paul Ryan who used similar “lawless” language in a Sunday interview on the topic. The GOP-led campaign to impeach Obama also appears to be gaining traction again. Rep. Paul Broun, a Georgia Republican running to replace Sen. Saxby Chambliss, became the latest to voice his support for impeachment at a tea party forum over the weekend. “Clinton was impeached for perjury,” the moderator asked. “Obama has perjured himself on multiple occasions. Would you support impeachment if presented for a vote?” Broun and his fellow candidates all raised their hands to signal support, according to video obtained by ABC. Other Republicans have hinted that Obama might be “nearing” impeachment, but so far articles have only been brought against Attorney General Eric Holder.
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