Recent Bush Executive Order on Earmarks
Fri Feb 15, 2008 at 07:56:22 AM PDT
The Bush administration has attempted to set precedents that strip from the Congress all its powers and transfer them to the President. Through signing statements, executive orders and other attempts to assert that if the president does it then its legal, the Executive Branch has managed to create confusion as to who is responsible for the decision making process in this country.
It may be that in the planning stages where the Federalist Society worked out the details, it was assumed future presidents would naturally be of a Republican or Federalist orientation and simply keep their expanded powers, gradually reducing the power of the people to govern themselves through their representatives in Congress.
Recently things have changed. We now no longer have Republican control of all three branches. We no longer have the threat of a conservative and hawkish Clinton whitehouse matched with a Republican or Blue Dog Congress. Our leadership may no longer be desirous of joining in a decision making procress favoring the unitary executive over Congress. Barak Obama and a we rather than I perspective may indeed bring change of the most basic order.
Executive Order: Protecting American Taxpayers From Government Spending on Wasteful Earmarks
White House News
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
The President has no authority vested in him by the constitution to make legislation, raise funds, pay debts or ursurp any other power vested in Congress by the Constitution. What authority the President does have is granted exclusively to execute the policies of Congress with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the Federal Government to be judicious in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. To ensure the proper use of taxpayer funds that are appropriated for Government programs and purposes, it is necessary that the number and cost of earmarks be reduced, that their origin and purposes be transparent, and that they be included in the text of the bills voted upon by the Congress and presented to the President.
1.) It has never been the policy of the Federal government to be judicious in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. Under the Bush administration wasteful spending has taken a surplus and turned it into a nine trillion dollar defecit.
2.)Earmarks have expanded to deal with the necessity of funding the safety nets that keep social programs for the poor huddled masses yearning to be free functioning.
For appropriations laws and other legislation enacted after the date of this order, executive agencies should not commit, obligate, or expend funds on the basis of earmarks included in any non-statutory source, including requests in reports of committees of the Congress or other congressional documents, or communications from or on behalf of Members of Congress, or any other non-statutory source, except when required by law or when an agency has itself determined a project, program, activity, grant, or other transaction to have merit under statutory criteria or other merit-based decisionmaking.
This executive order directs executive agencies not to commit, obligate, or expend funds appropriated by Congress. It directs executive agencies not to comply with the orders of Congress. It refers to the direction of Congress as "requests" and implies executive agencies rather than Congress may determine when a project, program, activity, grant, or other transaction has merit.
In other words it ursurps Article I Section 8 from Congress to itself.
Sec. 2. Duties of Agency Heads. (a) With respect to all appropriations laws and other legislation enacted after the date of this order, the head of each agency shall take all necessary steps to ensure that:
(i) agency decisions to commit, obligate, or expend funds for any earmark are based on the text of laws, and in particular, are not based on language in any report of a committee of Congress, joint explanatory statement of a committee of conference of the Congress, statement of managers concerning a bill in the Congress, or any other non-statutory statement or indication of views of the Congress, or a House, committee, Member, officer, or staff thereof;
The Executive Branch directs its agency heads to determine for themselves the views of Congress especially regarding the advice and consent of the Senate
(ii) agency decisions to commit, obligate, or expend funds for any earmark are based on authorized, transparent, statutory criteria and merit-based decision making, in the manner set forth in section II of OMB Memorandum M-07-10, dated February 15, 2007, to the extent consistent with applicable law; and
(iii) no oral or written communications concerning earmarks shall supersede statutory criteria, competitive awards, or merit-based decisionmaking.
(b) An agency shall not consider the views of a House, committee, Member, officer, or staff of the Congress with respect to commitments, obligations, or expenditures to carry out any earmark unless such views are in writing, to facilitate consideration in accordance with section 2(a)(ii) above. All written communications from the Congress, or a House, committee, Member, officer, or staff thereof, recommending that funds be committed, obligated, or expended on any earmark shall be made publicly available on the Internet by the receiving agency, not later than 30 days after receipt of such communication, unless otherwise specifically directed by the head of the agency, without delegation, after consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to preserve appropriate confidentiality between the executive and legislative branches.
(c) Heads of agencies shall otherwise implement within their respective agencies the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, consistent with such instructions as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget may prescribe.
(d) The head of each agency shall upon request provide to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget information about earmarks and compliance with this order.
This executive order requires that executive agencies rather than Congress shall be responsible for the decision making process as to the expenditure of funds
Sec. 3. Definitions. For purposes of this order:
(a) The term "agency" means an executive agency as defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code, and the United States Postal Service and the Postal Regulatory Commission, but shall exclude the Government Accountability Office; and
(b) the term "earmark" means funds provided by the Congress for projects, programs, or grants where the purported congressional direction (whether in statutory text, report language, or other communication) circumvents otherwise applicable merit-based or competitive allocation processes, or specifies the location or recipient, or otherwise curtails the ability of the executive branch to manage its statutory and constitutional responsibilities pertaining to the funds allocation process.
Funds provided by the Congress that curtail the ability of the executive branch to manage its statutory and constitutional responsibilities (as determined by the agency heads) shall not be committed, obligated or expended.
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) authority granted by law to an agency or the head thereof; or
(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budget, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by any party against the United States, its agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 29, 2008.
The Federalist Society begins propagandizing future lawyers and judges as to the respective powers of the President and Congress in law School.
There can be no more unamerican activity than to attempt to replace a government of the people, by the people and for the people with a unitary executive or king.
If Congress continues letting these ursurpations slide then it will take America with it in its suicide.
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