-Caveat Lector- Independent American Party of the U.S. ACTION PLAN: Executive Orders http://www.usiap.org/actionitems/executiveorders.html By Elizabeth Christman (MARYLAND) ACTION PLAN Recently Congressman Jack Metcalf (R-2-WA) introduced H.Con.Res 30. This vital legislation reasserts the role and responsibility of Congress to enact laws and appropriate federal dollars. It would curb the infringement of executive power on legislative authority. Furthermore, H.Con.Res 30 will clarify any confusion regarding EOs, by emphasizing Congressional authority granted under Article I, sec 8 of the Constitution. EOs are not authorized by the Constitution. It is time for Congress to address this issue of balance among the three branches of the government. Currently, 46 Congressman have co-sponsored this bill and need more if we hope to have the Speaker take it to a floor vote. It is currently in the Judiciary Committee, Constitution Sub-Committee. If you are concerned about Executive Orders, please do the following: 1. Contact your congressperson and urge them to co-sponsor this bill. 2. Contact Congressman Charles Canady <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Chairman of the Constitution Sub-Committee and urge him to co-sponsor, bring it up for a vote with the full committee and report out of sub-committee for a vote to the House floor. 3. Contact Speaker Hastert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and urge him to bring the resolution to the floor for a vote. Clinton's Executive Orders [Excellent Overview, well-written -- Tam] Is Congressional Authority Slipping? Unfortunately the answer is yes. Faced with a Congress unwilling to grant him super legislative powers the President has unleashed a barrage of Executive Orders (EOs). In fact, he has issued more than 281 of them since taking office. Many of these infringe on the powers and duties reserved exclusively for Congress as dictated by the U.S. Constitution. In fact one EO was rescinded last year due to its disregard for Congressional Authority. Our founding fathers divided the government into three separate but coequal branches. It was their intention that all legislative powers be vested in the Congress. Furthermore, the framers specifically gave the responsibility of spending taxpayer dollars to the people’s representatives. The President is overstepping the constitutional power of his office, by issuing EOs which require the expenditure of federal funds. The American Heritage Rivers Initiative (AHRI) is a great example of our current President usurping the legislative power of the Congress. AHRI was born when President Clinton signed EO 13061. It is a fact that the Constitution requires Congress to first approve all revenue spending. EO 13061 also gives the President the power to reprogram government funds and spend taxpayer money for a project (AHRI) without Congress even having the chance to debate the initiative. I am disturbed that the President continues to try to supersede the Constitution by instituting broad policy initiatives like AHRI. By EO 13061, Clinton purported to give himself the power to take over 10 rivers a year (later extended to 14), whose adjacent lands of indeterminate size would be put under the control of Clinton-appointed River Navigators, each with a salary of $100,000. Congress never authorized this land grab or appropriated any money for it, so Clinton says he will divert funds from 12 departments. This Rivers EO takes governing authority away from states and localities. It threatens private property rights guaranteed by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Clinton's surprise grab of 1.7 million acres of Utah land for a national park in 1996 just happened to include a trillion dollars worth of clean-burning, low-sulfur hard coal. Clinton's removal of this huge natural resource from commercial availability tremendously enhanced the value of the second largest source of environmentally-safe coal, which just happens to be owned by Clinton's Indonesian friends the Riadys, who gave millions of dollars to Clinton's presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996. For the Mexican and Brazilian bailouts, Clinton used executive authority to raid a U.S. Treasury Department fund set up in the 1930s for the specific purpose of being available to stabilize the U.S. dollar. The President certainly was not authorized to give this money to foreign governments so they could make their loan payments due to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin's old firm, Goldman Sachs. Clinton's EO 12919 of June 3, 1994, entitled National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness, asserts plenary and dictatorial authority over citizens, food, transportation, energy, health, contracts, materials and resources, to be exercised by the National Security Council and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). Many wonder if this EO's real purpose is to grab emergency powers if we are bitten by the Y2K bug. BACKGROUND OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS Many citizens may wonder, what are Executive Orders and where does the President derive the authority to use them? These questions have been the subject of political and academic debate since the inception of our nation. Initially, there were no problems with EOs. They fit within the legitimate powers of the Presidency, because they were used predominately to direct federal employees in carrying out their duties. However, early this century Presidents began issuing EOs that pushed beyond prescribed Presidential authority and over time we have tolerated EOs that stepped far over the line. This has only encouraged some of our leaders to push the envelope farther. Now is the time to stop this encroachment and clarify the scope of executive authority vested in the Presidency, by Article II of the Constitution. Nowhere in the Constitution is the President specifically given the authority to issue EOs. Regrettably, the federal courts have improperly ruled that EOs have the force and effect of law. The delicate balance of separate but equal branches is at stake if the President is allowed to wield super legislative powers, by issuing EOs that require the expenditure of federal funds without the consent of Congress. Elizabeth Christman is Vice Chair of the Maryland Reform Party and a member of the Executive Committee of the national Reform Party. 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