Famed economist Thomas Sowell is at it again. Using facts and reason in the face of media hysteria and finger-pointing, Sowell explains why the President and the Democrats are responsible for the shutdown.
Dr. Sowell writes in his column exactly how the United States government works. Basically, every single branch has the right to act independently. If Congress wishes not to fund a government program, it has always held that right. President Barack Obama was given a bill to fund the entire government, except for Obamacare. He could have chosen to run the government, but instead he chose to shut it down. That is his decision and he can’t force congress to fund programs they don’t want. They hold the power of the purse.
Professor Sowell says:
As for the House of Representatives’ right to grant or withhold money, that is not a matter of opinion either. You can check the Constitution of the United States. All spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives, which means that Congressmen there have a right to decide whether or not they want to spend money on a particular government activity.
Whether ObamaCare is good, bad or indifferent is a matter of opinion. But it is a matter of fact that members of the House of Representatives have a right to make spending decisions based on their opinion.
ObamaCare is indeed “the law of the land,” as its supporters keep saying, and the Supreme Court has upheld its Constitutionality.
But the whole point of having a division of powers within the federal government is that each branch can decide independently what it wants to do or not do, regardless of what the other branches do, when exercising the powers specifically granted to that branch by the Constitution.
The hundreds of thousands of government workers who have been laid off are not idle because the House of Representatives did not vote enough money to pay their salaries or the other expenses of their agencies — unless they are in an agency that would administer ObamaCare.
