Article One

ARTICLE ONE

Today is President’s day. Not King day.  Not Emperor day.  President.  See Article 2 of the Constitution for the description.  Our current office holder has sworn to uphold the Constitution. I’m not even sure he’s read it. Or, if he has, pays any attention to it. He seems to think being elected President gives him free reign to do anything he wants.  Like a King, or Emperor would.

Problem is the Constitution doesn’t give him unlimited power.  It is very explicit that Congress holds the power of the purse.  Examples from Article One:

Article 1, Section 1:  All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Article 1, Section 7:  All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives…

Article 1, Section 8:  The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes….

To coin money and regulate the value thereof…

 Article 1, Section 9:No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence Of Appropriations made by Law.

During his campaign he promised to build a wall across the Southern border and that Mexico would pay for it.  When it was clear that Mexico said hell no to paying for a wall, he then turned to Congress to give him taxpayer dollars to build his wall. When he didn’t get his way the government shut down for over a month. The Senate and House finally agreed to an appropriations bill that will keep the government open and give a little money for barriers—what he might claim as a wall.  At the same time he out-foxed Congress by declaring a national emergency, which, he believes, gives him the authority to move money from other pots already allocated to build his wall.  Even some of his own party think that’s a bad idea and probably unconstitutional.  He thinks he’ll ultimately prevail with the Supreme Court, citing a 1976 law that gives the power to the President to declare emergencies.  Problem is no former President has used the emergency power to explicitly over-ride Congressional allocations. Democrats point out that if his action is upheld, then what’s to stop another President from declaring future emergencies and in effect bypassing Article One, Section 9? In effect it would nullify Congress’s power of the purse and turn Congress into an advisory body.  And the President into a dictator.

This cannot stand.  Happy President’s day.  I hear there’s a sale on mattresses.