"...Article I sect. 9 of the Constitution, “No Money
shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law”
meant that the entire Congress considered, individually, each of the executive
branch’s requests for money as well as proposals made by members regardless of party. Rarely would votes on
individual appropriations be along party lines. Nearly always, the Congress
would work as James Madison’s Federalist #10 had intended, “to refine and
enlarge the public view.” The failure of any appropriation to muster a majority
in both houses merely meant that there would be no money or authorization for
that measure. Never, ever, could the failure of an appropriation cause a national crisis, never
mind “shut down the government.”
This included funds for “obamacare,” which would surely not
have been appropriated by the House of Representatives if presented singly. Republicans objected to “obamacare” in the
only way possible given the fact that it was included in a CR, namely by opposing
the CR.
During the “shutdown,” the House of Representatives passed
and re-passed appropriations for any and all parts of the government. But President
Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refused them again and
again, chastising Republicans for not voting on the one, single appropriation
that the Democratic Party had crafted. The words they used are significant. Obama: “we don’t get to
pick and choose based on which party likes what...the government doesn’t work that
way.” Reid: “ Republicans are...cherry picking the few parts of the government
they like.”
Just as significant is that the Republicans did not rebut
most vigorously that “cherry picking” the things for which the
people should and should not pay is precisely, exactly the Congress’ duty, that
getting to “pick and choose” what any legislator likes or dislikes is
precisely, exactly the way that the US government had always worked and was
meant to work. Instead, the Republican Establishment, including prominently The
Wall Street Journal, denigrated and ridiculed those Republicans who stood in
the Democrats’ way.
Thus the Republican Establishment’s acquiescence to the CR
as a method of governance foisted upon America what amounts to a radical departure
from the US Constitution and from American history. This Europeanization of American
government is far bigger stuff than Obamacare."
How the Shutdown Europeanized the US Constitution and How to
Restore It
Democrats and Republicans, by entering and exiting the 2013 “government
shutdown” without regard to America’s traditional Constitutional practices,
practically instituted among us the European practice of single “crisis” votes
that enable or disable governments. The remedy lies in removing any doubt...
Source: Facebook; [Republican Liberty Caucus] How the Shutdown
Europeanized the US Constitution... posted by Dennis Marburger posted on
Facebook: Republican Liberty Caucus, Oct 30, 2013: 8:26 AM Reply to this email to comment on this post.
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Comments:
The House GOP leadership is committing suicide by not
insisting that each spending bill be separate and voted on individually, only
allowing directly related amendments.
An energy bill could cut ethanol back to eliminate it
from gasoline and deny funding subsidies for implementing unaffordable
alternative energy sources.
Bills funding the Education, Transportation, Interior,
EPA, HUD and Labor could include the orderly transfer of authority to the
States and halt Agenda 21 implementation.
Bills funding the DOD could separate military foreign aid
from a Defense Budget and begin cuts in this foreign aid.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader