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  1. #1
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    The next way Republicans are trying to block the White House from getting around Cong


    The next way Republicans are trying to block the White House from getting around Congress


    By JOEL GEHRKE (@JOELMENTUM)

    6/27/16 12:01 AM


    Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., has a straightforward proposal to weaken the power of federal agencies: require them to hand over to Congress the money that they collect in fines, fees and penalties.

    To that end, Palmer introduced the Agency Accountability Act, which would require all money collected by the agencies to be transferred to the U.S. Treasury, at which point the agencies could get it back only if Congress gave it to them through the appropriations process. By making the agencies more dependent on lawmakers for their funding, the bill would deprive the White House of an important resource in policy fights with the legislative branch.

    "We need to have oversight over all of the revenues, that's the bottom line," Palmer told the Washington Examiner.

    Congressional attempts to stymie the president follow two tracks: the authorization process (in which legislators vote to ban or require certain actions), and the appropriations process, which entails voting to fund or defund various aspects of the federal government. The nature of the legislative process has enabled President Obama to outflank Republicans who wanted to restrain his various executive orders or regulatory actions repeatedly, in no small part because of the existence of alternate revenue streams.
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    When Republicans try to ban his policies, Obama's Democratic allies can block those votes. And if Republicans refuse to pass an appropriations bill to fund certain policies or programs, the administration can rely on the fees and penalties to finance controversial policies. The White House Office of Management and Budget estimates that agencies collect $516 billion annually in fees. There are no reliable public estimates for how much money agencies derive from fines and penalties, but it's clear that the total rivals the $1.1 trillion annually that Congress agreed to appropriate in the most recent spending deal.
    "It's almost like you've got a second set of books," Palmer said.

    That gives the White House and the federal agencies broad power to set policy without congressional approval. Palmer cited the most recent example of the fight over whether to fund "executive amnesty orders" that Obama issued in November of 2014. House Republicans passed a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security that included language withholding funds for the implementation of that order in February of 2015.

    "They said 'well that's OK, we'll pay for it with fees,' " Palmer recalled. "They had access to money that allowed them to basically ignore the will of Congress."

    Palmer hopes that congressional Democrats, in anticipation of a possible Republican presidency, will "pull back and take a 30,000 foot look at" the issue in order to prevent a future president from spending money without congressional approval.

    "I believe the American public is fed up with a fourth branch of government that terrifies them, whether it's the IRS, the EPA, or anybody else," he told the Examiner. "The bottom line is, I think Congress needs to take responsibility for oversight over these agencies and you do that through the power of the purse."

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/th...rticle/2594567

  2. #2
    Administrator ALIPAC's Avatar
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    I've got a simple way that Congress can stop Obama's abuses of power... they can stop passing funding bills like last December's Omnibus funding bill that funded Obama's Syrian and illegal alien resettlement plans and other abuses of power!

    W
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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