Political Quotes

“Mr. President, article I, section 9, clause 7 of the Constitution makes clear that no money will be drawn from the Treasury except by an appropriation passed by Congress. Article I, section 7 of the Constitution likewise makes clear that you can't pass an appropriation or any other form of legislation without the same document, the same bill, the same proposal passing the House of Representatives and passing the Senate and then being submitted to the President for signature, veto, or acquiescence. Over time, particularly in the last decade, it has become increasingly common for Congress to recognize the cumbersome nature of that process, which is cumbersome by design. It is sometimes easier to just circumvent the process, technically complying with its commands but doing so in a way that doesn't really invite or even allow for individual Members or their constituents to know what they are voting for when they vote on a spending bill. This is what we have come to refer to as governing by cliff in the spending context, and it has, sadly, become the status quo in Washington. It often provides Members with a simple binary choice when they are facing a spending bill. When you come up against a spending cliff, it means a deadline, almost always one arbitrarily imposed by the previous spending bill. It is when you come up close to that and there is no spending bill on the floor until, maybe, a day or two or sometimes an hour or two or sometimes more like a minute or two.…”