Does the phrase "power of the purse" mean...

[jessicak]

that Congress is given the constitutional right to authorize all federal appropriations? And is that all it means?

 

[Witling]

It's the golden rule, "He who has the gold, makes the rules."

The Constitution says that spending bills must arise in the House. As a practical matter, that means nothing because the bill has to go to the Senate where it can, and sometimes is, amended beyond recognition. It also means, in a theoretical sense, that the President can't introduce spending measures. That's entirely theoretical. The President has wide authority for discretionary spending and, as a practical matter, if he or she sends a bill to Congress, it gets a lot of attention. The guys who wrote the Constitution did the best they could -- and that was dang good. But, as in all human activities, politics comes in to play. And I don't think that's entirely bad.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Witling
It's the golden rule, "He who has the gold, makes the rules."

The Constitution says that spending bills must arise in the House. As a practical matter, that means nothing because the bill has to go to the Senate where it can, and sometimes is, amended beyond recognition. It also means, in a theoretical sense, that the President can't introduce spending measures. That's entirely theoretical. The President has wide authority for discretionary spending and, as a practical matter, if he or she sends a bill to Congress, it gets a lot of attention. The guys who wrote the Constitution did the best they could -- and that was dang good. But, as in all human activities, politics comes in to play. And I don't think that's entirely bad.

good intentions went bad. The framers anticipated a civilian representation from the educated gentry classes. They were trying to avoid a profressional government aka England.

That worked well for about 150 years. Then came WWII and after FDR was around for 4 terms, politicians realized that they did not have to obey common sense and represent their constitutents.

Not blaming FDR, but that may have triggered the idea that a couple of terms were no longer enough and that a klling could be made from within the government..