Holding the purse strings
As George Bush plans his speech unveiling the new-new Iraq strategy, the new Congress is looking at ways to make the displeasure that brought so many of them into office known. The 109th Congress had done quite a job of offloading as many of its powers as it seemingly could to the President, so options are somewhat limited. What power does Congress still hold? Funding. The executive can do a good many things without Congressional approval, but spending is not really among them.
Sadly, yanking those purse strings is a step that many lawmakers are loathe to take. While Senator Kennedy (D-MA) is the one who proffered a bill to not allow the extra spending unless Congress actually approves it (as opposed to the more or less passive ability to spend currently in place), even other Democrats balking at the idea. Hence, we hear a lot about “non-binding resolutions.”
To my mind, non-binding resolutions are a joke; they’re something like the Congressional equivalent to the President’s signing statements (the ones the current president has used so liberally, which basically say that a bill is law, but that it doesn’t apply to him). Non-binding resolutions in this case send the statement “we firmly disagree with you, but we aren’t going to do a thing to stop you.”
Is this what America wanted when they voted in November? Rather than trying to work to implement the withdrawal from Iraq, weak and ineffectual opposition to a so-called “surge” of troops? (The fact that the “surge” is neither enough to provide the presence needed to overwhelm the “insurgency,” nor is productive towards actual withdraw is a different matter.) Rather than taking the stand to say “no, we the people refuse to let you do this,” the legislature passively disagrees and signs the checks anyway? .
The President is the Commander in Chief. He has the ultimate authority on how to wage a war. That said, his powers do not extend to getting funding above and beyond his initial budgets; that still requires the legislature. While Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pointed out that “you can’t run a war by committee,” you still need the committee to declare the war, and you need them to fund it.
Here’s hoping that Congress remembers what its real powers are, and the mandate that put many of the newer members in place.
