One of the topics that is always discussed by the talking head on TV when the subject of funding for the immigration order of president Obama comes up is the issue of a government "shutdown". In many news stories, the entire focus of the reporter is on whether or not the Republicans will shut down the government. It does not matter who shuts down the government, the focus is on the Republicans. Nor do the reporters ever focus on exactly what will get shut down should Congress fail to pass funding for the entire government. This subject, however, is key to understanding what is going on.
Let's start at the beginning. Funding for government activities is passed by Congress and signed by the president before it is in place. Absent anything else, that would mean that unless Congress approved a spending measure, the federal government could not continue to spend at all. This is not the case, however. There is in place law that covers what is to happen in the event that Congress has not been able to come to a decision on funding the government. Congress long ago recognized that certain government functions are essential. During war, the army cannot stop functioning just because Congress hasn't finalized the spending bills. Air traffic controllers cannot be told to walk off the job if there is a funding delay in Congress. The law provides that even when there is a funding gap, government services deemed "essential" will continue to be funded at the levels previously set forth in the budget.
The key to this discussion, however, is the identity of just who it is who makes the decision as to what is an "essential" government service. That decision is made by the president for the most part. There are some services which Congress has mandated be considered essential, but the president basically gets to pick what else will continue to get funded.
Now consider what will happen in two weeks or in March if funding for the government is cut off due to Obama's immigration order. At that point, Obama will simply order that the activities included in the new immigration order are "essential" and he will order them funded.
Some people say that Obama would not dare to call these services essential when he did nothing about them for the first six years of his term. After all, how essential could they be if there were not even important enough to act on? These people, however, miss the point that Obama also said for six years that he did not have the power to issue an order on immigration of this sort. Obama told us he was a president and not an emperor, and the Constitution barred him from issuing such an order on his own. Then, right after the election was out of the way, Obama totally reversed his position and issued the very order he had said he was powerless to issue. Does anyone really think that Obama would shy away from calling the relevant services "essential" and ordering funding for them to continue?
The truth is that the only way for funding for these services to surely be cut off is for Congress to pass a measure that bars such funding which Obama then signs into law. Since we have a president who does not care about following the Constitution, the only remedy is his removal from office, something that is unlikely to happen.
Let's start at the beginning. Funding for government activities is passed by Congress and signed by the president before it is in place. Absent anything else, that would mean that unless Congress approved a spending measure, the federal government could not continue to spend at all. This is not the case, however. There is in place law that covers what is to happen in the event that Congress has not been able to come to a decision on funding the government. Congress long ago recognized that certain government functions are essential. During war, the army cannot stop functioning just because Congress hasn't finalized the spending bills. Air traffic controllers cannot be told to walk off the job if there is a funding delay in Congress. The law provides that even when there is a funding gap, government services deemed "essential" will continue to be funded at the levels previously set forth in the budget.
The key to this discussion, however, is the identity of just who it is who makes the decision as to what is an "essential" government service. That decision is made by the president for the most part. There are some services which Congress has mandated be considered essential, but the president basically gets to pick what else will continue to get funded.
Now consider what will happen in two weeks or in March if funding for the government is cut off due to Obama's immigration order. At that point, Obama will simply order that the activities included in the new immigration order are "essential" and he will order them funded.
Some people say that Obama would not dare to call these services essential when he did nothing about them for the first six years of his term. After all, how essential could they be if there were not even important enough to act on? These people, however, miss the point that Obama also said for six years that he did not have the power to issue an order on immigration of this sort. Obama told us he was a president and not an emperor, and the Constitution barred him from issuing such an order on his own. Then, right after the election was out of the way, Obama totally reversed his position and issued the very order he had said he was powerless to issue. Does anyone really think that Obama would shy away from calling the relevant services "essential" and ordering funding for them to continue?
The truth is that the only way for funding for these services to surely be cut off is for Congress to pass a measure that bars such funding which Obama then signs into law. Since we have a president who does not care about following the Constitution, the only remedy is his removal from office, something that is unlikely to happen.
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