From: chasm@insync.net (schuetzen)
Subject: SNET: (fwd) IP: Action Plan - Executive Orders GET INVOLVED WITH THIS!!!
Date: 19 Jun 1999 13:18:05 -0400
To: p@sneety.insync.net


->  SNETNEWS  Mailing List

On Sat, 19 Jun 1999 11:13:10 -0500, Robert Richards
  wrote:

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
, 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
 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 In fact one EO was rescinded last year due to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=C6s 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.

 .--------------------v---------------------v--------------------
 ----. |    ///  Robert     |CLink 911:6800/0.0   |AuroraNet
 124:100/2.0   | |\\\///  Richards -  |AnimeNet 401:253/0.0
 |ComicBookNet 23:601/1.0 | | \XX/  Alpha Prime  |CHNet
 371:100/1.0    |Fidonet 1:138/258.0     | | @attic.rook.wa.com
 |AmigaNet 40:402/101.0|------------------------'
 `--------------------^---------------------'




****************************************************
To subscribe or unsubscribe, email:
     majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com
with the message:
     (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address

or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address
****************************************************
www.telepath.com/believer
****************************************************


-> Send "subscribe   snetnews " to majordomo@world.std.com
->  Posted by: chasm@insync.net (schuetzen)