House Speaker John Boehner is seeking House approval to sue President Obama for overstepping his authority. Obama has angered Republicans with a series of executive orders in the face of a gridlocked Congress, with actions including raising the minimum wage, expanding LGBT protections, and stopping the deportation of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. On Wednesday, Boehner said he will ask House colleagues to authorize a legal challenge.

House Speaker John Boehner: “You know, the Constitution makes it clear that a president’s job is to faithfully execute the laws. And in my view, the president has not faithfully executed the laws. We have a system of government outlined in our Constitution, with the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch. Congress has its job to do, and so does the president. And when there’s conflicts like this between the legislative branch and the administrative branch, it’s, in my view, our responsibility to stand up for this institution in which we serve.”

Boehner declined to say which executive actions he plans to oppose. At the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Republicans are approaching a new level of political obstruction.

Josh Earnest: “For a long time, we’ve seen Republicans block progress in Congress, a range of bills that would promote economic strength. But in this case, it seems that Republicans have shifted their opposition into a higher gear. Frankly, it’s a gear that I didn’t know previously existed. The fact that they are considering a taxpayer-funded lawsuit against the president of the United States for doing his job, I think, is the kind of step that most Americans wouldn’t support. I think they’re looking — I think what most Americans would say is they want their leaders in Washington, D.C., to make progress on behalf of the American people. I’m not suggesting that that is easy. Bipartisan progress, in particular, is difficult. But just lapsing into these kinds of tactics that for so long that have been employed in the legislative branch, and now appear to being applied at the judicial branch is frankly not the right way to go.”