This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, a public domain source. The Faithful Execution of the Law Act of 2014 would expand the circumstances under which the Attorney General is required to report to Congress regarding the enforcement of laws to include any instance in which the Attorney General, an officer of the United States Department of Justice, or any other federal officer establishes or implements a policy to refrain from: enforcing, applying, or administering any federal statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law within the responsibility of the Attorney General or such officer; or adhering to, enforcing, applying, or complying with, a final decision of any court of jurisdiction respecting the application of the Constitution, any statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law within the responsibility of the Attorney General or such officer. The bill would require such reports to state the grounds for policies of nonenforcement.
This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Budget Office, as ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on March 5, 2014. This is a public domain source. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that implementing H.R. 3973 would have no significant cost to the federal government. Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. Current law requires the United States Department of Justice to submit a report to the Congress if it refrains from enforcing or administering federal laws or regulations because it deems them unconstitutional. H.R. 3973 would direct DOJ to report to the Congress whenever any federal agency refrains from enforcing laws or regulations for any reason. Based on the costs of similar activities currently carried out by DOJ, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would not have a significant effect on the budget because such reporting costs are small and subject to the availability of appropriated funds. H.R. 3973 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The Hill reports that the bill is a Republican reaction to "what they say is a string of decisions from President Obama to ignore the will of Congress and the letter of the law." Republicans point to Obama's changes to provisions and deadlines of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and his changes to the deportation of some immigrants. The bill's sponsor, Rep. DeSantis spoke in favor of the bill, arguing that "President Obama has not only failed to uphold several of our nation's laws, he has vowed to continue to do so in order to enact his unpopular agenda... The American people deserve to know exactly which laws the Obama administration is refusing to enforce and why." Rep. Bradley Byrne spoke out in favor of the bill saying, "the Obama Administration has been open and honest about one thing in particular: they have no problem making an end-run around Congress to achieve through administrative means what they cannot legislatively. Placing political convenience above the United States Constitution goes against everything the Founding Fathers intended, and it's time we put a stop to this practice." The OMB said of the Gowdy bill, “violates the separation of powers by purporting to permit the Congress to challenge in court the exercise by the President of one of his core constitutional functions – taking care that Federal laws are faithfully executed.”
