Will of the People

There is a lot of finger pointing over who is to blame for the government shutdown.  President Obama has accused the House Republicans of using extortion and Senator Harry Reid has called the Tea Party “anarchists” and “obstructionists.”  In a recent speech, President Obama said the Speaker of the House, John Boehner is to blame for the shutdown.  “There will be no negotiations over this. The American people are not pawns in some political game. You don’t get to demand some ransom in exchange for keeping the government running,” Obama said. 

Doesn’t the President understand the situation the government is in?  According to Wikipedia, President Obama taught Constitutional Law for 12 years.  How could someone teach Constitutional Law and not understand the Constitution?

Article 1, Section 7 of the US Constitution reads, “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.”  It further states, “If he (the President) approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it.”  So, not only is the House part of the process, but also the Senate and the President.

The House of Representatives, according to James Madison, is the immediate representatives of the people (until 1913 and the passage of the 17^th Amendment, members of the House were the only directly elected officials).  Accordingly, all revenue bills must originate in the House.    The House has continuously submitted appropriations bills, but the Senate Majority Leader has refused to allow a Senate vote on such bills.  In 2011, Senator Reid declared it would be "foolish for us to do a budget" (Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2012).  That implies that the Senate, not the House is the source of the problem.

The House has sent four different appropriations bills to the Senate, which has voted against every one of them.  Just because these spending bills do not match what the President or the Senate want them to be does not mean that the House should be characterized as obstinate or obstructionist.  There is nothing in the Constitution that requires the House to pass legislation that makes either the Senate or the President happy.  It’s not about what they like; it is all about what is good for the people of this country. 

The House, whose representation is apportioned based on population, is the instrument of the people.  To prevent one branch from becoming supreme, to protect the "opulent minority" from the majority, and to induce the branches to cooperate, government systems that employ a separation of powers need a way to balance each of the branches.  That’s the beauty of the US Constitution, its insistence on a separation of powers.  And our Founding Fathers gave the power of the purse to the House because it is the only body that is directly answerable to the people.

James Madison wrote in Federalist Papers, 58, “This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.”  If the House decides it wants to defund or delay Obamacare, that’s its prerogative.  The Senate may reject or approve the House measures. But, it cannot deride the House as being obstructionists if they are effectively representing the will of the people, regardless of the will of the Senate or the President.  The President can veto any legislation coming from Congress, but there is nothing in the Constitution that requires the Congress to be complacent or compliant with the desires of the President.

Obama seems to forget that the will of people, not the desires of the President, is what governs the country.  In the media, you will hear a lot of debates about who is responsible for the shutdown.  Since 2004, the Senate has repeatedly failed to pass any appropriation measures.  The roadblock is not the House, but the Senate and the President, whose will they deem more important than the will of the people.

Remember, it is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, not a government of the parties.  It’s time that Obama and the Senate realize they work for us, and not the other way around.