They were just baby steps. Though perhaps notable ones. Time will tell. But Thursday may prove to be a landmark in a potential and greatly-overdue claw back of Congressional powers ceded long ago — long before Trump — to the Executive branch. Whether the actions taken by Congress (including no small number of Republicans) on three separate issues today signal a sea change in the way Congress regards its own Constitutionally co-equal mandates and powers remains to be seen. But their rebukes of President Trump were surprisingly clear. Three different Congressional votes on three different matters covered on today’s BradCast underscore this issue. [Audio link to show follows below.]
1) On Wednesday night, the GOP-controlled Senate voted once again in support of a resolution to end financial and military support to the U.S.-enabled, Saudi-led war on Yemen that has resulted in an unparalleled humanitarian crisis. The effort amounts to the first Congressional rebuke of a President under the War Powers Resolution since its adoption in 1973. But the invocation of a resolution under the legislation which cedes Congress’ sole Constitutional power to declare war may not be enough to prevent the Trump Administration’s promised veto and continued support of war-making with the murderous Saudi regime and its Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
2) On Thursday morning, the Democratic led U.S. House voted unanimously(!), 420 to 0, on a resolution to demand the public release of the final report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whenever that may happen, after it’s delivered to Attorney General William Barr. The statute guiding the duties of the Special Counsel was adopted by Congress in 1999, but mandates only that the Special Counsel deliver a “confidential” report to the AG. Congress failed to specify whether that report must ever be released to the full Congress, much less the public.
3) After recent passage in the Democratically controlled House, the U.S. Senate on Thursday voted 59-41 — including all Democrats and 12 Republicans — to reject Trump’s “National Emergency” declaration to steal money appropriated by Congress to the military in order to build his southern border wall. It’s the first time since the National Emergencies Act of 1973 that Congress has exercised its option to try and block such a declaration. The effort comes after a week of intense lobbying of Senate Republicans by the White House to block the resolution, and by Senate Republicans to convince Trump to accept a compromise alternative or face an embarrassing rejection from his own party. Nonetheless, Trump has vowed to veto the resolution and there are not currently the two-thirds of members in each chamber to override Trump’s veto. The matter will most likely be settled in court and, as we argue today, very likely in favor of the President, given the way the Act was written (also ceding more Congressional powers to the Executive Branch.)
If the nation is lucky, however, today could mark a turning point after decades of Congress giving away its powers. But our nation hasn’t been very lucky of late.
Also on today’s news-packed program…
- Beto O’Rourke jumps into the 2020 Democratic Presidential free-for-all. We discuss.
- And, in Wisconsin, still more (shameful) evidence that Republican Photo ID voting restrictions were adopted as little more than a (successful) scam to suppress the Democratic-leaning vote in the Badger State. A new report from all of Wisconsin’s county election clerks finds just 24 cases of potential voter fraud out of some 2.7 million votes cast over the past year. ZERO of those cases, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, would have been prevented by the state’s Photo ID voting restrictions. On the other hand, as we learned back in 2017, some 23,000 legal voters in just two WI counties alone were deterred from voting by the suppressive law in 2016. That was the year that Donald Trump reportedly won the state by 22,748 votes.
- Finally today, Desi Doyen joins us with the latest Green News Report on the Trump Administration’s wasted billions in taxpayer dollars in rolling back climate policy regulations and how school strikes by kids around the globe and the recent introduction of the Green New Deal is now forcing fossil fuel industry executives to rethink their loathsome, planet-killing business strategies…
CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!…
[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_TrumpRebukedCongressionalClawback_BetoIn_WIPhotoIDScam_031419.mp3]
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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“The matter will most likely be settled in court and, as we argue today, very likely in favor of the (gentleman from New York), given the way the Act was written….”
Indeed, that may be so IF the case is confined to the National Emergencies Act of 1976. But there is a constitutional issue as to how an emergency is defined. And to understand what the Framers had in mind, those self-styled “strict constructionists” on the bench must carefully consider the one who influenced them. Then, at least to this historian, any hearing should be pro forma because the case is ludicrous.
http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-fire-and-the-wall.html
http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-declarations.html
Marvin @1,
An ultimate issue is whether delegation of power, even if explicitly giving in a statute, is a no no:
(Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417, (1998)).
But, to all too many of us, a no no is just a yes yes in disguise (How To Identify The Despotic Minority – 10).
Correction: THE FIRE AND THE WALL
http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-fire-and-wall.html