All money spent by the federal government is under the ultimate control of Congress. If they choose, lawmakers can issue exquisitely detailed instructions on how federal dollars are spent. For proof, look no further than the 1,695-page spending bill passed by Congress over the weekend.
A particular phrase, "none of the funds," appears in the bill more than 450 times. In each case, Congress used those words to dictate how money can and cannot be spent.
The first two times the phrase appears in the bill concern a $1.2 billion appropriation for salaries and expenses at the Farm Service Agency, part of the Agriculture Department. "None of the funds available to the Farm Service Agency shall be used to close Farm Service Agency county offices," the bill says. In addition, "none of the funds available to the Farm Service Agency shall be used to permanently relocate county-based employees that would result in an office with two or fewer employees without prior notification and approval of the Committee on Appropriations."
That's pretty specific. The Agriculture Department can't close Farm Service Agencies or reorganize them, if the result is an office with fewer than three employees, unless specifically approved by Congress. That's using the power of the purse to dictate precisely what a government agency can do.
That level of detail continues throughout the bill....
Those are just a few examples of Congress using its power of the purse to tell the executive branch precisely what it may and may not do. There are many, many, many more — just in the new bill.
And that's nothing new; this sort of restriction, and many of the specific ones in the new spending bill, have been in appropriations measures for years and years.
Under Obama's immigration order, federal offices will process the cases of illegal immigrants in a variety of ways, awarding them work permits, assigning Social Security numbers, and distributing federal transfer payments. Given the routine restrictions of all sorts of federal actions in the new spending bill, and the thousands of such restrictions in similar bills over the years, does anyone believe Congress cannot limit what the president does on immigration?
Yes, lawmakers have to be united to act. But if they choose, they can stop Obama cold. KEEP READING
◼ The 'nuclear option' worked for Dems. Will the GOP reconsider? - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner
On Nov. 21, 2013, Senate Democrats made a historic rules change to end filibusters of judicial and executive branch nominees.
The move, which lowered the confirmation threshold from 60 votes to 51 votes, was considered so drastic that lawmakers labeled it the “nuclear option.”
It could soon backfire on Democrats, now that Republicans are about to take the Senate majority and, by 2016, possibly the White House....
