The topic of discussion for this
Constitution Monday concerns representation of the people. The main flash point
for the Revolutionary War was the fact that Great Britain was taxing the
colonists without any American representation in Parliament. Most Americans are
familiar with the cry of the colonists, “No taxation without representation!”
Over the more than 240 years since
that cry was first heard, Americans have slowly lost the right to be
represented. However, this time it has to do with the thousands or even
millions of regulations that are imposed by unelected bureaucrats. It seems
that Congress has slowly over time relinquished their responsibility to
legislate to bureaucracies. At the present time, Congress passes a
skeleton-like law and leaves it to the agencies to flesh out the law by writing
regulations. That practice may be ending and hopefully soon.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) introduced a bill on June 12, 2019, that would
remedy the situation. While later speaking at The Heritage Foundation Lee made
the following statement: “If the Founders’ rallying cry was ‘No taxation
without representation,’ ours must be, or must at least involve, ‘No regulation
with representation.”
The new bill was introduced as the
third part to a “conservative legislative program that seeks to reduce the size
and impact of administrative agencies.” Lee calls these agencies “the headless
fourth branch of the federal government.” The bill is titled the Take Care Act.
In an article posted at The Daily Signal, Carmel Kookogey reports the following from Lee’s visit.
Lee told his Heritage audience that
regulatory rules written and enforced by unelected administrators violate
Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution, which declares that all laws must be
passed through both chambers of Congress and be signed into law by the
president.
The proposed Take Care Act, Lee said,
would solve this problem by allowing the president to use his constitutional
power to remove upper-level agency officers who aren’t “faithfully executing
the law.”
Currently, Lee said, executive branch
officials may be removed only for committing an act of misconduct such as “inefficiency,
neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” and are protected against being
removed for political reasons. He argued that this change would make the
bureaucracy accountable to the people again.
“The way to accomplish that goal, while
not easy by any stretch of the imagination is itself straightforward,” Lee
said. “We need only look to the structural design of the Constitution, and the
form of the administrative state equivalent. This is so simple. It’s one of the
simplest features of our Constitution, and it’s also the most important.”
I have a lot of respect for Senator
Lee because I believe that he is a strict constitutionalist. He seems to have a
strong desire for the United States to run as the Constitution outlines, and
his new bill is one of the signs of this desire. He indicated at Heritage that
Congress is abusing its legislative power by delegating its main responsibility
to “unelected, unaccountable regulatory agencies.”
“Our constitutional obligation to
write laws we have handed over to bureaucrats who are in no way chosen by the
people, in no way accountable to the people. He admits that some people are
concerned that his bill will give the President too much power, but he would “still
rather have the president act as president.” He would rather have a President
that he did not agree with “wield the executive power than an unknown
technocrat.” Kookogey added the following statement to emphasize Lee’s message.
Lee went so far as to say that a more
powerful executive is preferable to the so-called “expert” government
administrator, and that’s why Congress should pass his legislation.
“The unknown, nameless, faceless
bureaucrat, however well educated, well intentioned, hardworking, and highly
specialized, would not have to answer to the American people, not ever,” Lee
said.
Most reasonable people know that
there are too many powerful bureaucrats in the federal government. Lee’s bill
is one way to reduce their power and possibly decrease the size of the
government. I hope that he can convince his fellow Senators to pass the bill!
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