2 weeks Ago
The U.S. Constitution clearly states: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.
" Yet, in his first week in office, Donald Trump attempted to bypass this authority by freezing nearly all federal loans and grant spending — an overreach that should concern anyone who values constitutional checks and balances. I called the Lincoln offices of Sen. Deb Fischer and Sen.
Pete Ricketts to express my concern. Sen. Fischer’s staffer seemed uninterested in talking to me and didn’t even bother asking for my name before trying to end the call.
While Sen. Ricketts’ office listened and promised to pass my concern along, his response to the media was, "When you're the executive branch and you're reviewing the policies of the previous administration, I don't think that's an uncommon or unusual thing for people to do." People are also reading.
.. It's not uncommon to unilaterally freeze trillions of dollars in government spending that was signed into law by Congress? Meanwhile, at the state level, 22 attorneys general sued the Trump administration to stop this unprecedented power grab.
Nebraska was not one of them. In fact, no Republican-led state joined in the lawsuit. So, do our Republican representatives actually care about Congress’ constitutional role? Or are they willing to surrender its authority to the executive branch? If they don’t care enough about defending their own responsibilities, maybe it’s time we consider electing people who do.
Craig Kohtz, Lincoln Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!.
