Arlen Specter: “Is he wiser than the 535 Members of Congress? Does he have more authority under article II than the Congress? Article II…”

“Is he wiser than the 535 Members of Congress? Does he have more authority under article II than the Congress? Article II does not say anything about the President's authority on appropriations. He derives that authority by virtue of the Constitution, which gives him the right to sign or veto. But the appropriations authority, all through the Constitution, vests with the Congress. Now, this is an issue and a vote which goes far beyond this particular bill. Next we have the appropriations bill on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, a subcommittee which I chaired for many years and am now ranking. If we are going to submit on this bill to the President's figure, you can be sure there will be a motion to commit that bill, which is over the President's figure, and a motion to commit all of the bills which are over the President's figure. We might as well not even convene and act. These appropriations bills are the result of a lot of very careful thought and a lot of hard work by staff and by Senators. We have subcommittees, we have full committee work, and we present it to the body. If there are some motions to reduce it, those motions could have been made before the bill came to the floor of the Senate. We had a confrontation in 1995, where the Government was shut down, and I think a lesson was learned by both branches. I do not think that is going to recur.”