Combatting Obama’s Lawlessness

After illegally putting unconfirmed appointees into office when there was no recess by the United States Senate and ignoring the United States Constitution, Barack Obama is continuing to govern by executive order when he cannot get his way in the United States Congress.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is finally beginning to fight back.  Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, Republican from Kansas will be introducing a concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that any Executive Order that would require federal spending has no binding effect until it is enacted into law through the legislative process.   This resolution would therefore clarify congressional authority, as detailed in the Constitution.  Before she introduces it, Representative Jenkins is seeking more co-sponsors for his bill.

More information about Congresswoman Jenkins’ legislation is directly below:

Attached is the bill text and Dear Colleague for the Concurrent Resolution that Congressman Jenkins plans to introduce next Tuesday.

January 24, 2012

Dear Colleague:

Like you, I am frustrated that the President has increasingly refused to work with Congress to find solutions to the problems facing our country, and appears to be preferring to sidestep the legislative process by using the privilege of Executive order to implement his agenda.

As you know Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution provides Congress with the authority to make laws and Section 9 provides the authority to appropriate funds to operate the Federal government.  For this reason, if the President is intent on by passing the legislative process to achieve his policy objects it will be a gross overuse of Executive power and must be checked by the Legislative branch.

To prevent this I will be introducing a Concurrent Resolution expressing the sense of the House that any Executive Order that would require Federal spending has no binding effect until it is enacted into law through a normal legislative process.  This fundamental legislation will clearly clarify Congressional authority as described in the Constitution.

If you would like to become an original cosponsor or have questions, please contact Colin Brainard….”

Sincerely,

Lynn Jenkins, CPA
Member of Congress

Also, we noticed this video today from the White House promoting the President’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative, which seems to justify a potentially excessive use of executive orders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSEp77-NKE8&feature=youtu.be

As a reminder, it was last introduced by Rep. Jack Metcalf in the 106th Congress (H. Con. Res. 30) and had 84 cosponsors.