Archive:WH wanted to run government without congress

> THE WHITE HOUSE MADE A POWER PLAY TO RECEIVE EXTRAORDINARY POWERS, IF
> CONGRESS IS OUT OF SESSION, WITH ONLY THE APPROVAL OF DENNIS HASTERT!
>
> FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35905-2001Oct22.html
>
> By Dana Milbank
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Tuesday, October 23, 2001; Page A04
>
> Congressional negotiators balked at a White House proposal that would
> give the president new powers to keep the government open if Congress
> could not meet because of a crisis.
>
> The Bush administration last week suggested an emergency spending
> procedure that would allow a president, in consultation with
> congressional leaders, to continue government operations for 30 days at
> existing funding levels if spending authority expires during a time of
> crisis when Congress cannot convene.
>
> The White House dropped the proposal when congressional and
> administration aides could not agree on the structure of such a
> mechanism. In their haste to vacate Capitol Hill because of an anthrax
> scare, lawmakers instead agreed to extend interim legislation to keep
> the government running until Oct. 31 without making a policy for future
> emergencies.
>
> Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations
> Committee, said the White House had sought to give the president power
> to extend government operations for 30 days if the president had the
> permission of the speaker of the House, in this case J. Dennis Hastert
> (R-Ill.).
>
> "We were willing to give them some short-term authority if they had the
> agreement of both parties in both houses," Obey said. Aides to President
> Bush talked about such a plan with congressional aides, but the Bush
> proposal "was very different from what had been discussed on the phone,"
> Obey said. "On both sides of the aisle in the House it was felt that was
> too far-reaching."
>
> Bush aides now indicate that getting such powers for the president is
> not a top priority, making it unlikely such a proposal will become law.
> But the proposal, which comes in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist
> attacks and when congressional offices have been closed because of fears
> of anthrax, underscores the government's new concerns about catastrophic
> terrorism in the United States.
>
> While scholars say it would be controversial, if not unconstitutional,
> for Congress to delegate its purse-strings authority to the president,
> Amy Call, a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and
> Budget, said the emergency provision would only be activated when
> congressional leaders gave their approval. "This would be a decision by
> congressional leaders in participation with the president," she said.
>
> Robert D. Reischauer, a former director of the Congressional Budget
> Office and now president of the Urban Institute, said there would likely
> be nothing unconstitutional about members of Congress delegating
> authority to their own leaders. "It's not a crazy thing to develop some
> kind of mechanism to ensure the government can continue operating," he
> said. "If the alternative is shutting down the government, I can't
> really see why it would be objectionable."
>
> Bush aides said that while the proposal is not meant to shift power from
> the legislative to executive branch, they were not optimistic Congress
> would approve a measure that even appeared to make such a shift.
> "Publicly, they're not going to give up any prerogatives," an official
> said.
>
> Existing law does not have a provision stipulating what would happen if
> Congress could not meet to authorize government spending, Reischauer
> said. But under the Civil War-era Feed and Forage Act, the military
> could continue to buy supplies without budget authority, he said.
>
> The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Vice President Cheney's
> staff promoted the idea of giving the president authority to keep the
> government operating for up to 30 days if Congress could not convene.
>
> The current federal fiscal year began on Oct. 1 without Congress passing
> any of the 13 annual spending bills needed to fund the government. The
> government has continued to operate under short-term spending bills
> Congress has passed and Bush has signed.
>
> Staff writer Dan Morgan contributed to this report.
>
>
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