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Home Front: Politix
President Bush Starts Major Fight With Congress
2008-01-30
WASHINGTON — President Bush was set to act Tuesday on his State of the Union promise to sign an executive order directing federal agencies to ignore any future earmarks not voted on by Congress...

...As many as 95 percent of earmarks are inserted after Congress has voted on appropriations measures, and the pork is never seen by most lawmakers...
This sounds like a real Marbury v. Madison fight. By doing this with an Executive Order, he is starting a constitutional battle that cuts to the heart of congressional spending. The only way congress could get around this is either by impeachment, or refusing to appropriate money at all. Some constitutional rocket scientist came up with this plan, and it will reach the Supreme Court.
Posted by:Anonymoose

#8  Forgot to add KOMMERSANT > GAZPROM: NEW RUSSIAN WEAPON. Excerpts on soon-to-be-released new book on GAZPROM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-01-30 21:29  

#7  RIAN > BUSH NO LONGER WANTS TO REARRANGE THE WORLD.

ALso from RIAN > STOCK MARKET CRISIS [US] - NO END IN SIGHT; + RUSSIA TO REARRANGE TROOPS DUE TO US MISSLE SHIELD [Kaliningrad Region] + NICE CRUISE - PITY ABOUT THE PROPAGANDA. Russ Atlantic NAVEX, resurgent geopol ambitions not on par with reality
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-01-30 21:27  

#6  Day late and a dollar short.
Posted by: danking70   2008-01-30 16:38  

#5  1 - Congress can bitch and throw a fit. Seems Nancy and Harry did that last year with limited effect.

2 - Congress can sue in the court and lose, ending the discussion for now and for ever.

3 - Congress and the President and dicker for the next year on what is important and real important, Congresscritter by Congresscritter.

Given that Mr. Bush knows how things are done in the beltway, I suspect that while the EO will curtail the execution of non-voted projects, the White House will send a memo or two out to the Departments to make some of these happen after some vote buying and swapping come the next 10 months. Lame duck indeed. Those who squeal the loudest are the ones most dependent upon the trough. That becomes POWER.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2008-01-30 08:16  

#4  Rob I think you are right. Plus can anyone imagine a congressman or senator voting to overturn this? LOL!

Might be the best thing he's ever done.
Posted by: Icerigger   2008-01-30 07:03  

#3  Well, it's too much trouble to get Congress to vote on such things. All members of Congress use this ability to deal out pork to the home districts. It's corrupt, but there is no incentive to reform.
Posted by: gromky   2008-01-30 06:33  

#2  Sounds to me like it's on solid Constitutional grounds. If Congress didn't vote on it, there's no authority to disperse the money.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2008-01-30 05:42  

#1  Heh. Impoundment II, the sequel. Anyone remember Prezident R. M. Nixon? This could be fun to watch.

If it is handled properly, it will cause much foaming by dems. If the supremes buy it, it could be a real amusing constitutional tar baby for W's sucessors.
Posted by: N guard   2008-01-30 04:47  

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