House Republicans plan to vote on a resolution that could lead to a lawsuit over President Obama’s executive action on immigration, but sources tell the Washington Free Beacon suing the president is not their first choice.
Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio.) made the announcement to his colleagues in a private meeting Tuesday morning,.
According to a source in the room, Boehner said, "We are finalizing a plan to authorize litigation on this issue—one we believe gives us the best chance of success." National Journal first reported the news.
The plan, he said, is to vote on a resolution that would authorize the House to take a variety of legal actions, from joining the 24 states already suing the president to filing a separate lawsuit on their own.
Obama announced his proposal to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation in November of last year. Republicans have since explored various options to halt those actions—including passing legislation that would withhold funding from the Department of Homeland Security.
That bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate. Aides tell the Free Beacon Boehner’s proposal offers an alternate option.
"Obviously, we will continue to vigorously pursue legislative options, including the House-passed DHS bill, as well," explained a top congressional aide. "I’d think of [the resolution] as a ‘second track’—we’re going to push both legal and legislative options as much as possible."
House Republicans have sued the president before. They filed a lawsuit in November in response to delays of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate