PrintDecember 3, 2010
Obama up to his old tricks
President Obama wants unprecedented authority to spend money the way he sees fit without Congressional or citizen input. Politico reports:
A two-week stopgap spending bill cleared Congress Thursday night, averting a threatened shutdown Friday and buying time for the White House to try to salvage some year-end agreement after the collapse of the budget process.The action came as the administration sent to the Capitol more than 50 funding adjustments it wants considered as part of what would be a stripped-down appropriations package for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year ending Sept. 30.Many agencies would be left frozen at their current spending levels, but the documents indicate the White House is seeking more than $11.4 billion in new spending above 2010, chiefly for foreign aid and defense accounts as well as education initiatives and housing assistance for low-income tenants. The administration also wants to a remarkably open-ended authority to transfer funds between accounts - a power that is sure to be resisted by the Appropriations Committee leadership.
These types of stunts are often too arcane and obscure to be appreciated by the great unwashed. They are similar to all the other ploys used to pass ObamaCare. They are a mockery of our traditions and show Barack Obama to be an ideological bully with no regard for normal checks and balances or the dignity of the office. This smacks of a truly imperial, if not dictatorial, Presidency. If George Bush or any Republican had ever attempted this type of overreach the New York Times would be in high dudgeon. Barack Obama just wants another slush fund of our taxpayer dollars to give away as he sees fit. The Presidency becomes a jackpot for this community organizer pol from Cook County. This is not the first time he has tried to create a slush fund to dole out as he sees fit.
Hat tip: Ed Morrissey
