From Article II, Section 4 of the U. S. Constitution:
The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
From Article I, Section 2:
The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
The archetypal “high crime and misdemeanor” is abuse of power. When the Speaker of the House says:
The Speaker went on to caution that Republicans in Congress were keeping “a very close eye on the administration to make sure they are following the law and following the Constitution.”
Obama announced a series of programs this week that would enable those with mortgage or student loan debt to refinance to more favorable terms and repayment plans. The administration says such action was necessary after Republicans blocked the president’s jobs plan proposal to stimulate the economy.
“We can’t wait for Congress to do their job, so they won’t act, I will. I told my administration, we’re going to look every single day to see what we can do without Congress,” Obama told students Wednesday at the University of Colorado-Denver.
But Boehner said that “committees of jurisdiction” in the House would be examining the proposals “to make sure that the president isn’t exceeding his authority.”
The article goes on to talk about limiting the scope of presidential action via the appropriations process but I take Speaker Boehner’s remarks as a shot across the bow.
I’ll send Boehner a check if he’ll try impeachment before the election.
It’s b.s. for the base.
All Congress has to do is zero out any money to administer the program. That’s what Congress did to prevent the President from transferring detainees from GITMO to the US. No money, no policy. If the President went ahead anyway, then there’s an argument for impeachment.
If the admin isn’t “retasking” entailed money in order to end-run Congress, there’s quite a lot of things they can do in the way of administrative regulatory changes that don’t come remotely close to impeachable offenses.
Of course, any party with legal standing can sue the admin for exceeding its own legal authorities. And there’s always the favorite weapon of the House and Senate, namely, tying up the cabinet officials involved in endless hearings and such.