Congress Just Abolished One Its Most Important Consitutional Powers

  Posted by Alexander Higgins - August 5, 2012 at 7:01 pm - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog

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The United States Congress has just forfeited one of their most important Constitutional provisions to keep the power of the President of the United States in check.

When our founding fathers wrote the framework of the US constitution they went through painstaking debate to ensure a rigorous foundation was created that would allow the three branches of the federal government to maintain a balance to  keep the powers of the other in check.

Of the powers assigned to the US Congress, the Senate was given the authority to review and vet, then accept or reject the appointment of many presidential nominees.

This power was given in Article II section 2 and ensures that dozens of management positions, which now fall under the Department Homeland Security (including the treasurer of the United States, the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, the director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness, and the assistant administrator of FEMA) are not appointed in a manner that would create a system of control by which the President could seize totalitarian tyrannical powers as possessed by King George during the Revolutionary War

I don’t know how much they were paid off but I certainly hope it was enough for them to overcome the guilt of destroying our nation because that section of the United States Constitution has just officially been abolished by the Congress  and now only awaits the President’s signature to be signed into law.

So just when the American public is outraged  by the media blackout over Obama appointing the first ever Assassination Czar congress rubs it our face by saying not only is that okay but the President can appoint such positions and we don’t even want any oversight over the process.

What’s next? A FEMA Camp Czar and a Homeland Assassination Czar?

Just one recent example of why this power is so important, if it weren’t for this balance the torture-tainted John Brennan, who is now Obama’s Assassination Czar and has been caught up in repeated scandals and outed for lie after lie, was actually Obama’s first choice to lead the CIA.

Due to fear over political fallout that would have occurred during the vetting process America Obama was forced not to make the appointment and America was saved from the horrible consequences that would have been suffered.

For more  on the Assassination Czar see: John Brennan, Torture-Tainted CIA Prospect, Alarms Obama Supporters and How the U.S. Army’s Field Manual Codified Torture — and Still Does

Now, thanks to the genius bureaucrats in Washington, the President will be able to make such horrible decisions in the future with absolutely no Congressional oversight or fear of political fallout for such appointments.

Here’s more from the New American :

House Passes Bill Eliminating Senate Approval of Presidential Appointments

By a vote of 261-116, the House of Representatives passed a bill rewriting Article II of the Constitution and divesting the Senate of the power to accept or reject the appointment of many presidential nominees.

Last year, the Senate passed the measure by a vote of 79-20, so it now goes to the desk of President Obama for his signature.

“Important positions will be filled faster, government agencies will be more capable of offering valuable services to their constituents, and the overall confirmation process will be more efficient,” said Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Dozens of key management positions in the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Commerce, and Homeland Security (including the treasurer of the United States, the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, the director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness, and the assistant administrator of FEMA) will now be filled by presidential edict, without the need of the “advice and consent” of the Senate, a phrase specifically removed from the process in the text of the bill.

Although the House vote occurred on Tuesday, the Senate voted to surrender its constitutional check on the executive over a year ago on June 29, 2011.

Despite a last-minute attempt by some House leaders to put the measure to a voice vote, thus allowing members to vote in favor of the legislation without being listed on the record, a roll call vote was taken, and the name of every congressman who voted to unconstitutionally neuter the legislative branch is listed.

The process began last March when Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and 15 cosponsors, including Republicans Lamar Alexander (Tenn.); Scott Brown (Mass.); and Mitch McConnell (Ky.), introduced S. 679, the “Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act.” The measure struck from many current laws the “advice and consent” requirement for many executive branch appointments, giving the president unchecked power to fill key administration positions.

In a memo sent to Capitol Hill in advance of Tuesday’s vote in the House, Thomas McClusky of the Family Research Council reminded lawmakers, “The United States Constitution does not bestow kingly powers on the President to appoint the senior officers of the government with no process.”

Although McClusky’s reading of the Constitution is accurate, as of Tuesday it is no longer the law of the land. According to proponents of the measure, the bill benefitted from such strong bipartisan support (95 Republicans joined 166 Democrats voting in favor of passage) because its sole purpose is to relieve the backlog of unconfirmed appointees by eliminating the confirmation requirement for about 200 offices.

The process by which heads of executive branch departments are appointed and confirmed is set forth by Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. The “Appointments Clause” provides that the president:

shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

Now, as soon as President Obama adds his signature to the bill, the checks and balances established by our Founding Fathers as a protection against tyranny will be eliminated, as well as the concept of enumerated powers.

This history of the delicate system created by our Founders was synopsized in anarticle published by the Heritage Foundation:

When the delegates of the states gathered in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and wrote the Constitution, they distributed the powers of the federal government among two Houses of Congress, a President, and a judiciary, and required in many cases that two of them work together to exercise a particular constitutional power. That separation of powers protects the liberties of the American people by preventing any one officer of the government from aggregating too much power.

The Framers of the Constitution did not give the President the kingly power to appoint the senior officers of the government by himself. Instead, they allowed the President to name an individual for a senior office, but then required the President to obtain the Senate’s consent before appointing the individual to office. Thus, they required the cooperation of the President and the Senate to put someone in high office.

Many of the Framers had practical experience with government and recognized that not every office would be of sufficient authority and consequence as to merit the attention of both the President and the Senate to an appointment to the office. Therefore, they provided a means by which the Congress by law could decide which of the lesser offices of government could be filled by the President alone, a court, or a department head.

The Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act removes these barriers between the branches and shifts the powers of appointment in such a way that the very foundation of our Republic is weakened under the crushing weight of a powerful executive branch.

[...]

Source: The New American

This completely destroy the system of checks and balances as any ill-intention President can immediately install loyalist goons in key positions across the federal government and literally seize complete, unchecked control both the US Treasury, The Department of Homeland Security and several other branches that our founding fathers had the foresight to protect.

Just like the repeal of Glass-Steagall marked the end of beginning of the end for the US economy the abolishing of this provision of the constitution will lead to a similar meltdown in the federal government.