How can the U.S. Congress make itself irrelevant? Let’s count the ways. The Constitution specifically dictates
legislative powers are exclusively granted to this branch of government. Yet, Congress creates agencies and confers
upon them regulatory powers that have the force of law, therein bypassing the
legislative process. This was deliberately
done with passage of the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946.
Under Article One, Section Seven all bills for
raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives. This was done to ensure our representatives,
and by extension the citizens of this country, had control over policies by
using the power of the purse. Yet,
Congress conferred upon these federal agencies the ability to create, implement
and collect fees and penalties, in effect, funding itself without having to go
to Congress with hat in hand.
The Obama administration has mastered exploiting
federal agencies in pursuit of its radical agenda. The president’s immigration policies do not
have Congresses approval, which by the way, is dictated under Article One,
Section Eight. These totalitarians
openly brag that they don’t need funding from Congress. They will get all the money they need from
collecting fees from illegal aliens. The
Washington Examiner reported the following:
The Obama administration is spending nearly $50 million to hire
and house 1,000 new federal workers to process immigration cases after
President Obama announced that he would unilaterally protect up to 5 million
illegal immigrants from deportation.
The Citizenship and Immigration Services
agency will devote $40 million to annual salaries and almost $8 million a year
to the lease of a new building just outside Washington, in which employees will
review the claims of illegal immigrants who apply for newly protected status,
according to the New York Times.
In recent weeks, critics have warned
that Obama’s executive action would further increase the federal bureaucracy,
leaving taxpayers on the hook for the expansion of immigration services
“They are in the process of hiring 1,000 full-time staff to
quickly approve applications for the president’s illegal amnesty, which will
provide work permits, photo IDs, Social Security and Medicare to illegal
immigrants — all benefits rejected by Congress,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.,
said earlier this month. “This action will mean that American workers, their
sons, their daughters, their parents, will now have to compete directly for
jobs, wages, and benefits with millions of illegal immigrants.”
The Obama administration counters that
the fees recouped through the president’s executive action eventually will
cover the cost of the new federal workers
Congress needs to take power away from these federal
agencies. They can start by passing a
law mandating all fees and penalties are to go into the general fund. This will help ensure these government
entities do not abuse their powers by imposing punitive fees upon a hapless
citizenry as a means for funding, and will give power of the purse back to
Congress where it belongs.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment