GOP presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul said President Obama’s new plan to reform student loans through executive order is potentially illegal during a radio interview Wednesday.
Speaking in Denver, Obama announced new executive actions to ease student debt burdens. Obama also said he wants to enact the plan next year, rather than in 2014, when it was originally slated to go into effect. (RELATED: Obama aids debt-ridden college students)
In a radio interview with the Mike Church show, Paul said Obama’s plan relies on an illegal use of executive orders.
“That is what’s wrong,” Paul said. “Now, they’ve been doing it for years because technically all regulations written by the executive branch are illegal. Executive orders other than those functions that you’re permitted to do as president, they are illegal. They can’t legislate that way.”
Obama’s actions, Paul said, were part of a continuing trend of unconstitutional offenses, such as his military intervention in Libya and the assassination of U.S. citizens suspected of involvement with terrorist organizations.
“I would say that this is more dangerous because he’s blatant about it,” Paul said. “He’s, you know, they go to war without declaration. But this thing going into Libya, he was very blatant about it. He said, ‘I don’t need to tell you. I get my orders from NATO and the United Nations.'”