Trump Plays another card but doesn’t show his hand…YET.
March 26, 2018
There are many politically minded folks, Trump supporters and those who are still on the fence having FITS about this Omnibus bill Trump signed last week. Laura Ingraham blasted Trump’s actions on her show and several conservative radio and TV personalities like Tucker Carlson have been quick to jump down his throat. Then there was the “letter” that floated around this weekend signed by Trump and addressed to the Speaker of the house and the President of the Senate Committee that was cryptic unless one looked up the statutes, codes, and meanings contained in the letter, and then still…
I spent a great deal of time over the weekend looking up all the sections and codes and meanings contained therein and completed my civic duty by posting them on Facebook for all to see and understand. HA! I don’t think that anyone had much of a clue as to what I had posted because we all know success and comprehension is gauged by how many, “likes” and “shares” we receive…and perhaps it was simply because I had been the one doing the research that it made perfect sense to me, but not so much to anyone reading my research. To the average Joe it read like; Bla bla bla, more bla bla bla…
So, this morning, while scrolling through my Facebook page, looking for pearls of wisdom, I came across this commentary on a friend’s page. Unfortunately, in true Facebook form, I am not able to track down the Author and it has the infamous words; “BORROWED”, which somehow gives credence to whoever reposts. My Kudos go out to the originating author of these points. I simply corrected the misspellings and grammar but kept to the original content.
“Trump is a genius. First, he didn’t sign the bill into law. He signed it as an Omnibus. Why is that difference so important? Let’s talk about what the President can and can’t do for this Omnibus Bill. There’s a lot of discussions both ways.
- Congress allocates money to be spent. The President spends the allocated money.
- Once Congress allocates money, their job is oversight of the money being spent. They don’t spend the money and have no say HOW it gets spent as long as it’s spent legally. That’s their job to monitor with oversight.
- Once the President is given the money with the instructions to spend it, he has a number of choices to make in spending it. There are some rules he has to follow & some of the money is fungible and some aren’t.
- However, there are some other factors that are in play here. One of them is that the President has declared a Human Rights Emergency AND has notified Congress that he’s invoking the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
- This opens up new options.
- By making these two declarations President Trump has just communicated that he has the authority to NOT spend any funds he doesn’t deem necessary and will return them to the US Treasury. So, funds for Planned Parenthood? He can simply not allocate the funds.
- Also, these declarations make some funds fungible. For instance, if he determines that building a Wall on the Southern Border is a defense against Human Trafficking? He can move funds from anywhere else in the Defense Dept Allocation & simply build the Wall.
- Congress is powerless to stop cash reallocations on an omnibus bill AND cannot stop the DOD from taking measures under a declared Emergency.
- Despite their language in the Omnibus Bill about the Border Wall, it is trumped by the State of Emergency that Trump declared. So in summary – This will go to the Courts. Congress will sue the President over the Border Wall. But here’s how it will play out – Congress and the President are co-equal branches with different functions. Congress allocates. The President spends.
The President has National Security as his Primary Responsibility and it’s his job to use whatever funds and declarations he needs to for that job. No Court in this Nation (except corrupt on the take Judges) would EVER rule against a President for exercising that authority.
- In the end, the Supreme Court (yes, that’s where it will end) will fully VALIDATE the President’s Constitutional Authority & the Wall will be built.”
Daniella Cross is the Guardian of 4Earth and featured writer.
ALL images used in this site rely on the U.S. Copyright law doctrine of “Fair Use” with No Copyright Infringement Intended.