Article 1 of the Constitution: "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress."
One of the distinctive qualities about this administration has been its eagerness to shift legislative responsibility to the executive branch. Some of this is simple lust for power, some of it is arrogant confidence in their vision. But much of this has been enabled by the two congressional houses themselves. This election should center on this effort at governmental restructuring and restore John Locke's dictum: "The legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands. ... The power of the legislative ... (is) only to make laws, and not to make legislators."
Repealing The Independent Payment Advisory Board would be a good place to start. 'The IPAB's purported function is to control costs by reducing Medicare spending. When the IPAB's 15 presidential appointees make what the ACA calls a "legislative proposal" limiting reimbursements to doctors, this proposal automatically becomes law unless Congress passes a similar measure cutting Medicare spending. Under this constitutional travesty, an executive branch agency makes laws unless the legislative branch enacts alternative means of achieving the executive agency's aim.' (Will)
Passing the tabled Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act would be a second sensible move. That legislation requires that any regulation with at least a $100 million annual impact on the economy — there are approximately 200 of them in the pipeline — must be approved without amendments by joint resolution of Congress and signed by the president.
The assumption of legislative power by the executive is more than a politically expedient move, it is a deep cultural change that violates essential American revolutionary principles. The Republicans could do a lot worse than establish themselves on the forefront of this needed debate.
One of the distinctive qualities about this administration has been its eagerness to shift legislative responsibility to the executive branch. Some of this is simple lust for power, some of it is arrogant confidence in their vision. But much of this has been enabled by the two congressional houses themselves. This election should center on this effort at governmental restructuring and restore John Locke's dictum: "The legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands. ... The power of the legislative ... (is) only to make laws, and not to make legislators."
Repealing The Independent Payment Advisory Board would be a good place to start. 'The IPAB's purported function is to control costs by reducing Medicare spending. When the IPAB's 15 presidential appointees make what the ACA calls a "legislative proposal" limiting reimbursements to doctors, this proposal automatically becomes law unless Congress passes a similar measure cutting Medicare spending. Under this constitutional travesty, an executive branch agency makes laws unless the legislative branch enacts alternative means of achieving the executive agency's aim.' (Will)
Passing the tabled Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act would be a second sensible move. That legislation requires that any regulation with at least a $100 million annual impact on the economy — there are approximately 200 of them in the pipeline — must be approved without amendments by joint resolution of Congress and signed by the president.
The assumption of legislative power by the executive is more than a politically expedient move, it is a deep cultural change that violates essential American revolutionary principles. The Republicans could do a lot worse than establish themselves on the forefront of this needed debate.
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