power of the purse – Behind The Black

House imposes more cuts to the IRS budget

July 16, 2014 8:08 pm Robert Zimmerman

The power of the purse: The House on Wednesday voted to block the IRS from spending any money on employee performance bonuses as well as conferences.

The amendment passed 282-138-1. Not surprisingly, with their IRS harassment operation at risk of being shut down by these cuts, Democrats voted against them and the Obama administration threatened a veto.

House slashes budget of National Security Council

July 16, 2014 10:09 am Robert Zimmerman

Pushback: The House has approved a one third cut to the budget of the National Security Council in response to its mandate that agencies withhold information from Congress.

As I said yesterday, when an agency of the federal government decides to defy Congress, elected by the people, than the best and most effective action for Congress to take is to use the power of the purse to reduce or eliminate that agency’s funding. Without money their power disappears, and Congress takes control.

It has been decades since Congress used its power in this way. The more it does this now, however, the more it is going to realize how powerful it really is.