Barney Frank: “there are several oddities being announced today. One is that when we know we are going to need more money, we should…”

“there are several oddities being announced today. One is that when we know we are going to need more money, we should not, in the basic budget bill, vote all that we are going to need, but we should hold some back for a supplemental. I had thought the purpose was, when we were pretty sure we were going to need money, to vote that at the outset so there could be intelligent planning on the part of those receiving it, and reserve a supplemental for something unexpected. We are told here, yes, you are right, we need this money; but let us not do it in the overall budget bill. Let us wait for a supplemental. Why? Because the President does not want it. That is really quite striking. That is the second interesting constitutional point. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) said the President leads and we support. In terms of the deployment of troops and the command in the field, of course that is the case. But in terms of allocation of resources, this is a very odd constitutional theory, that it is somehow inappropriate for Congress to say to the President, we think you need more money. It is a good thing Harry Truman did not believe that during World War II when he did such a good job of oversight. Apparently, there is this new theory that once the President says something, that is it, that our job is simply to do what he wants.”