JEFFERSON CITY � The latest Republican legislative plan to block federal rules and executive orders the GOP is unable to stop through action in Congress is to enact a law allowing lawsuits against the executive branch when members believe federal laws are not being properly enforced.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., touted the �ENFORCE the Law Act� yesterday during a news conference at Capital Sand Co. Inc., calling it a way to prevent federal environmental and labor regulations adverse to business from taking effect. The measure would send lawsuits authorized by a resolution, passed by either chamber, to a three-judge panel of the federal district courts. Appeals of those decisions would go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

�There is no� current �standing for members to go to court and say we have a concern here that the law is not being properly enforced,� Blunt said.

As the midterm elections approach, Republicans are increasingly vocal about what they call President Barack Obama�s arbitrary use of executive orders to modify enforcement of laws, generally citing the Affordable Care Act, environmental laws and immigration. Obama put off enforcement of the employer mandate to provide health coverage to employees until 2015 and suspended deportation of some undocumented youths who have lived for years in the United States.

Blunt yesterday attacked proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations on water pollution and emissions from coal-fired power plants as examples of Obama�s effort to regulate in areas where Congress has not granted authority to the executive branch.

The proposed rules to enforce the Clean Water Act, according to the EPA, build on U.S. Supreme Court rulings determining which waterways fall under federal jurisdiction. The rule covers navigable streams and their tributaries, waters that cross state boundaries and allows for a case-by-case determination for other waterways.

Despite potential problems with farm runoff and other pollution reaching large waterways, Blunt said the federal government should not be regulating every waterway. �Everything doesn�t have to be a federal problem,� he said. �There are people in states and communities that can decide that better than in Washington, D.C.�

On coal, Obama has announced goals for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions for every state. Missouri, heavily dependent on coal to power electric generating plants, will be hurt by those rules, Blunt said.

�It needs to be legislated, not just suddenly the all-knowing EPA decides what�s better for you than somebody in Jefferson City or Columbia, Missouri, or the state capital of any state,� he said.

Blunt was joined for his news conference by representatives of business and farm groups. Dan Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the speed of new regulation is imposing large new costs on businesses that crave certainty in regulation.

Mehan cited the carbon emission regulations as a bad deal for the state. Missouri depends on coal for 85 percent of its power, and changing will eliminate a source of cheap power, he said. �We are unilaterally disarming, and that is not going to fix the problem of carbon emissions for this planet,� Mehan said.

Many of the rules will impose costs on businesses that are already following the law, he said.

�Companies operate responsibly and they do the right thing in regard to environmental regulations,� Mehan said.