President Obama responded to news that House Speaker John Boehner planned to file a lawsuit over his use of executive actions, calling it a "stunt."
Boehner said on Tuesday he intended to bring ups measure in the House that would use legal means to limit what he says is the Obama's overreach of his constitutional authority, although he has declined to specify which of the president's actions would be named in such a suit.
"The suit is a stunt, but what I've told Speaker Boehner directly is, 'If you're really concerned about me taking too many executive actions, why don't you try getting something done through Congress?'" Obama told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Thursday.
"You'll notice that he didn't specifically say what exactly he was objecting to," Obama continued. "I'm not going to apologize for trying to do something while they're doing nothing."
Republicans have complained about unilateral changes the administration made in implementing the Affordable Care Act, raising the minimum wage of federal workers and easing off deportations of non-criminal undocumented immigrations.
The administration has maintained it is within its constitutional rights to make the moves it has. And it has taken the stance that someone has to do the business of the American people, if Congress can't.
The president has called 2014 his "Year of Action," stating his intent in January to use executive authority when he could to go around a historically unproductive Congress.
"You're going to squawk if I try to fix some parts of [government] administratively that are within my authority while you're not doing anything?" he said.
A spokesman for Boehner shot back at Obama's comments after the interview.
"The American people, their elected representatives, and the Supreme Court have all expressed serious concerns about the President's failure to follow the Constitution," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in a statement. "Dismissing them with words like, 'smidgen' or 'stunt' only reinforces their frustration."