Trump on Rescue Legislation: We Don’t Need Checks and Balances
President Trump invited a bunch of (mostly) white Republican men to stand shoulder to shoulder behind him as he scribbled on a piece of paper symbolizing approval for the 880 page $2.2 trillion economic rescue package.
So much for the social distancing thing, which the President can’t abide if it gets in the way of the “optics” of media events in the White House.
Although most, if not all, Democrats voted for the measure, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi was lead negotiator, inserting many of the items Republicans couldn’t be bothered with that potentially would benefit the “poors,” the signing ceremony was strictly a one party affair.
Despite all the explainers supposedly shedding light on the oversight provisions of the bill, the White House had a signing statement ready. Based on the outrage I’m seeing on the Twitters, the nation is experiencing yet another example of what happens when civics isn’t taught in school.
Although signing statements are not mentioned in the constitution, and were rarely used before the Reagan presidency, they have become more common as the partisan divide in domestic politics has grown wider.
Most presidential signing statements are simply used for political or rhetorical reasons, but on occasion they have been used to make assertions about various parts of legislation the executive branch will be ignoring.
Republicans were outraged in 2012 when then-President Obama issued a signing statement alongside the The National Defense Authorization Act saying the administration had no intention of utilizing the part of the law authorizing the indefinite detaining of American citizens suspected of terrorism.
So it should come as no surprise to anybody that the signing statements included by the Trump administration were focused on undermining the oversight portions of the legislation.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1243664679479791622?s=20
The statement also indicates Trump will treat as optional a provision requiring that Congress be consulted about the staffing of the new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.
So all that checks and balances stuff you may have heard about: forgetaboutit.
But Her Emails Award for the week:
Jared Kushner’s shadow coronavirus task force appears to be violating multiple laws by using private email accounts with no assurance their communications are being preserved and by meeting in secret, according to Citizens for Ethics.
All hail the Deal Leader. parts one & two
https://twitter.com/rebeccaballhaus/status/1243690535728152581?s=20
https://twitter.com/PodSaveAmerica/status/1243669716872253440?s=20
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