From CTH:
And it will happen when least expected…
Much of what has happened in the past year I never believed…
[ Reference: John Salisbury https:// twitter.com/5Strat/status/977677766668636160 ]
Let's talk about what the President can and can't do for this Omnibus Bill. There's a lot of discussion both ways so let's examine how money gets allocated & spent in the US Government:
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Congress allocates money to be spent. The President spends the allocated money.
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Once Congress allocates money, their job is oversight of the money being spent. They don't spend the money and have no say HOW it gets spent as long as it's spent legally. That's their job to monitor with oversight.
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Once the President is given the money with the instructions to spend it, he has a number of choices to make in spending it. There are some rules he has to follow & some of the money is fungible and some isn't.
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However there are some other factors that are in play here. One of them is that the President has declared a Human Rights Emergency AND has notified Congress that he's invoking the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
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This opens up new options.
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By making these two declarations President Trump has just communicated that he has the authority to NOT spend any funds he doesn't deem necessary and will return them to the US Treasury. So, funds for Planned Parenthood? He can simply not allocate the funds.
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Also, these declarations make some funds fungible. For instance if he determines that building a Wall on the Southern Border is a defense against Human Trafficking? He can move funds from anywhere else in the Defense Dept. Allocation & simply build the Wall.
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Congress is powerless to stop cash reallocations on an omnibus bill AND cannot stop the DOD from taking measures under a declared Emergency.
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Despite their language in the Omnibus Bill about the Border Wall, it is trumped by the State of Emergency that Trump declared.
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So in summary - This will go to the Courts. Congress will sue the President over the Border Wall. But here's how it will play out - Congress and the President are co-equal branches with different functions. Congress allocates. The President spends.
11.The President has National Security as his Primary Responsibility and it's his job to use whatever funds and declarations he needs to for that job. No Court in this Nation (except corrupt on the take Judges) would EVER rule against a President for exercising that authority.
John. You've really done your homework on this one. Thanks for the REASSURANCE. Maybe I OVERREACTED. My mind is at ease.
We all did. I was very upset till I saw the moves he was making under the table. I've worked for Government for 30 years and I've never seen ANYONE making the moves he's making right now. He's a Genius.
>Great write up. And I want to make sure that it's recognized that not "ALL" of us overreacted or doubted.
Thank you.
I wholeheartedly believe that the faithful anons here were ALWAYS solid.
It's just that we so often get drowned out by the noisy pretenders—those who are quick to jump off the Trump Train when they can't understand something immediately(!).
And then they jump back on with a vengeance and unbridled enthusiasm with the next big victory, pretending they never doubted at all, praise the Lord.
Oh, well. As long as we're moving forward and winning, it doesn't matter.