Don Nickles: “I remind my colleagues in the Congress that the Constitution gives the Congress, not the President, the authority and…”

“I remind my colleagues in the Congress that the Constitution gives the Congress, not the President, the authority and the responsibility to appropriate money, to pass bills. As a matter of fact, article I of the Constitution says: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States. . . . Not in the executive branch, in the Congress, in the people's body. It also says under article I, section 9: No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by law. Again, made by Congress. I think some people in the administration think that they are Congress now, that they can write appropriations bills. That is not constitutional. The President has his constitutional authority, and if he wants to veto appropriations bills, he has a right to do so. Let him exercise that right. He doesn't have a right to write appropriations bills. For some reason, some people have gotten this idea that the administration is an equal partner. They are an equal branch of Government, but we have different functions in Government. The executive branch can submit a budget, they can confer, they can consult, but Congress passes the appropriations bills, and we need to do so. Now we have the President making ever-extending demands: ``Well, I'm not going to sign that bill if you don't spend so much money.'' Fine. Very good.…”