Rep. Ted Yoho and two other Republicans proposed a resolution Wednesday to censure and condemn President Obama for what the lawmakers say is Obama’s “reckless endangerment” of U.S. national security.
“The number one job of the president of the United States when he takes the oath of office is to protect and defend our great country from all enemies foreign and domestic,” the Florida Republican said.
“The president has failed miserably on that account,” he added. “From his irresponsible deal with Iran to his breathtakingly large underestimation of ISIS, the president’s misguided decisions have time and again affected the safety of each and every American.”
Yoho also cited Obama’s push to release terrorist suspects detained in Cuba, and his failure to vet foreign nationals applying for U.S. visas.
“The list is endless,” he said.
Yoho’s resolution says the House “does hereby censure and condemn President Barack Obama for having willfully disregarded the president’s constitutional responsibilities as Commander in Chief of the United States through his continued failed lack of foreign affairs strategy, failure to follow the advice of military and intelligence advisors, and failed national security policy.”
It also puts Obama “on notice and strongly urges the president to reverse course and begin fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities.”
“The formal censure of a president is not an act that is taken lightly,” Yoho said. “It is a mark that is forever on the record and legacy of his tenure. President Obama’s repeated decisions, that put our nation in harm’s way, are so egregious that the House of Representatives must stand and be heard.”
A formal rebuke of the president by Congress is a rare event, and it last happened more than 150 years ago. But in 1998, resolutions to censure President Bill Clinton were introduced.
A week ago, Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., introduced his own censure resolution to protest Obama’s executive action on guns.
Joining Yoho on his censure resolution are Reps. Randy Weber, R-Texas, and Scott Rigell, R-Va.
Read Yoho’s censure resolution here:
