Pete Domenici: “first, let me add to my brief comments a while ago about Presidents who might abuse this power because a lot has been…”

“first, let me add to my brief comments a while ago about Presidents who might abuse this power because a lot has been said about how this might change the balance of power. I remind every Senator that there is nothing in this bill that says we have to appropriate money that the President asks us for. Let me repeat; we do not have to appropriate money that the President asks us for. You see, if a President decides to be totally arbitrary about this, the Congress of the United States does not have to appropriate money for things the President wants. That is our balance. There can be no money spent unless we appropriate it. So, in addition to all of the other things the President needs of a Congress and a Senate under the Constitution, those are all our powers that he needs to help him do his job. In addition, he needs dollars to run the Government of which he is the Chief Executive, and we have to appropriate those dollars. I am not worried about the balance of power because, obviously, Congress will withhold some of the President's power if this gets into an arbitrary match of power, and I believe it is going to be used to the betterment of our country, our people, and the taxpayers.”