Political Quotes

“What does a pocket rescission mean? It means the President can steal the power of the purse from Congress, which is assigned to Congress in the Constitution, by submitting a proposal to undo spending for a program in the last 45 days of the fiscal year. And then, because under our rules there is 45 days to consider it, as a grace period, even though Congress never votes affirmatively in support of this proposal, the clock runs out and the funding for the program dies. It is kind of like the clock running out on midnight on Cinderella's stagecoach, and, suddenly, it is a pumpkin. In this case, it is the funding for some key program in healthcare, in housing, or in education. Or maybe it is an investment in infrastructure. Maybe it is something that creates good-paying jobs. Maybe it is the research that keeps our economy humming far into the future. Maybe it is energy policy. But one person--the President--says he doesn't like that program and decides to kill it by submitting a proposal to kill it in the last 45 days, and the clock runs out before Congress can vote. And then, even without Congress voting, the program dies. This is an outright violation of the power of the purse assigned in the Constitution to Congress--to us.”