Bryan Fischer
Why no conservative should support ObamaTrade
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on AFR Talk, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
There are any number of reasons to flatly oppose the ObamaTrade bill that lies concealed in a vault in an underground bunker beneath the U.S. Capitol.
Reason one is that it lies concealed in a vault in an underground bunker beneath the U.S. Capitol. Only Congressmen and selected staff are allowed to visit the bill, but they can't take it home with them. They have to check their cell phones at the door on the way in, and have to check any notes they take at the door on the way out.
Anything that is this secretive cannot be good for the American people. Just on principle, no conservative should vote for a bill that is shrouded in this kind of concealment. No conservative should vote for a bill his constituents are not even allowed to read.
We, the American people, don't even know what's in it. What's worse, the House leadership doesn't know what's in it either. They haven't even read it. Just when we thought we were finished with the "you have to pass it to find out what's in it" ludicrosity, here come REPUBLICANS saying exactly the same thing. It boggles the mind. Criminently, even Nancy Pelosi opposes this bill.
I don't know what's in it, but I don't even care. It could be the greatest single piece of legislation since the Magna Carta and I would still oppose it on principle. This is not the way a constitutional republic is designed to work.
Remember when John Boehner solemnly promised the American people that every bill would be posted online for at least 72 hours before it was voted on? Whatever happened to that idea?
It is bizarre in the extreme that Republicans are collaborating with President Obama in a thoroughly misguided attempt to give him virtually unlimited authority to make trade deals that will commit the United States to...what? Nobody knows!
The single biggest reason to oppose this bill is that it is flatly unconstitutional. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution assigns to Congress, not the President, the authority to "regulate commerce with foreign nations." Constitutional authority cannot be delegated away. The president's job is to implement whatever regulations Congress adopts, not to create them. It is Congress which has the duty to regulate international commerce, not the president.
So it is Congress that must do the hard work of developing policies to regulate international trade and submit them to the president for his signature. If he doesn't like them, he can always veto them, so it's not as if he is powerless to affect their shape. But his role is to implement them, not generate them.
It is unconscionable that Republicans, who took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, are colluding together with President Obama to betray that Constitution and hand power to the president that doesn't belong to him.
This might be a good day for citizens to contact their representatives at 202-224-3121 and urge them in no uncertain terms to vote no on this bill.
The reprehensible secrecy and the blatant unconstitutionality of ObamaTrade are sufficient reasons to vigorously oppose this bill on principle.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant and this bill stands in desperate need of some sunshine.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
June 6, 2015
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on AFR Talk, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
There are any number of reasons to flatly oppose the ObamaTrade bill that lies concealed in a vault in an underground bunker beneath the U.S. Capitol.
Reason one is that it lies concealed in a vault in an underground bunker beneath the U.S. Capitol. Only Congressmen and selected staff are allowed to visit the bill, but they can't take it home with them. They have to check their cell phones at the door on the way in, and have to check any notes they take at the door on the way out.
Anything that is this secretive cannot be good for the American people. Just on principle, no conservative should vote for a bill that is shrouded in this kind of concealment. No conservative should vote for a bill his constituents are not even allowed to read.
We, the American people, don't even know what's in it. What's worse, the House leadership doesn't know what's in it either. They haven't even read it. Just when we thought we were finished with the "you have to pass it to find out what's in it" ludicrosity, here come REPUBLICANS saying exactly the same thing. It boggles the mind. Criminently, even Nancy Pelosi opposes this bill.
I don't know what's in it, but I don't even care. It could be the greatest single piece of legislation since the Magna Carta and I would still oppose it on principle. This is not the way a constitutional republic is designed to work.
Remember when John Boehner solemnly promised the American people that every bill would be posted online for at least 72 hours before it was voted on? Whatever happened to that idea?
It is bizarre in the extreme that Republicans are collaborating with President Obama in a thoroughly misguided attempt to give him virtually unlimited authority to make trade deals that will commit the United States to...what? Nobody knows!
The single biggest reason to oppose this bill is that it is flatly unconstitutional. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution assigns to Congress, not the President, the authority to "regulate commerce with foreign nations." Constitutional authority cannot be delegated away. The president's job is to implement whatever regulations Congress adopts, not to create them. It is Congress which has the duty to regulate international commerce, not the president.
So it is Congress that must do the hard work of developing policies to regulate international trade and submit them to the president for his signature. If he doesn't like them, he can always veto them, so it's not as if he is powerless to affect their shape. But his role is to implement them, not generate them.
It is unconscionable that Republicans, who took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, are colluding together with President Obama to betray that Constitution and hand power to the president that doesn't belong to him.
This might be a good day for citizens to contact their representatives at 202-224-3121 and urge them in no uncertain terms to vote no on this bill.
The reprehensible secrecy and the blatant unconstitutionality of ObamaTrade are sufficient reasons to vigorously oppose this bill on principle.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant and this bill stands in desperate need of some sunshine.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
