Finally, an Idaho congressman is standing up to President Trump | Opinion
This editorial board has been critical of Idaho’s congressional delegation for not speaking up and speaking out about President Donald Trump’s dictatorial tendencies, particularly Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency cuts to congressionally approved programs.
“Why bother trying to get any of your priorities passed if the president can just turn around and unilaterally kill it?” we asked in a recent editorial.
So it comes as a welcome surprise this week to hear one of our elected officials, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, voicing concerns about tactics being used by Trump to try to usurp congressional authority.
Simpson, who chairs the House Appropriations panel that funds the EPA and the Interior Department, is taking issue, along with other fellow Republicans, with the Trump administration’s threat to use “impoundment,” or the withholding of federal cash, if Congress doesn’t go along with Trump’s budget plans, according to an article in Politico.
“I’ve got a real problem with impoundment,” Simpson told reporters this week. “That’s like a line-item veto, and I think it’s illegal. That will be a challenge, for sure.”
OK, so not the guns a-blazin’ kind of statement we’d like to see, but at least it’s a start.
Congress controls the budget
We know that Trump told a reporter that he doesn’t know whether he is required to uphold the Constitution, which explains why he might be fuzzy on the details of our founding document.
But the Constitution clearly gives Congress the power of the purse in Article I, Section 8: “The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.”
The president presents a budget, but it’s only a starting point and not constitutionally required.
In other words, Congress determines what the budget is, not the president.
Granted, Congress has done a lousy job of it for years and years, running trillion-dollar deficits and ringing up $36 trillion of debt. Be that as it may, it’s still Congress’ job, according to the Constitution.
We’ve been concerned about Trump violating the Constitution and usurping congressional authority going back to his first term, when he diverted congressionally approved funds to build portions of a wall on the southern border. You know, the wall he said Mexico would pay for.
At the time, Simpson said he was concerned about it, but not concerned enough to do anything about it.
The fact that Simpson is now firing a warning shot over the bow by saying that impoundment is illegal suggests he might be willing to do something about Trump’s overstepping his authority.
As Politico points out, Trump has been withholding congressionally approved federal money since the day he took office, “but it would be considered far more radical for the president to defy congressional leaders from his own party by locking up congressionally approved funding after nine months of total GOP control in Washington.”
Simpson shows political courage
Simpson has also shown courage by co-sponsoring the Public Lands in Public Hands Act, which seeks to prevent the sale or transfer of most federally managed public lands. He stood alone among Idaho’s congressional delegation.
We are certain Simpson is going to catch flak from Trump followers who expect every single Republican to get in lockstep with the dear leader.
But that’s not how this does or should work.
The U.S. system of checks and balances is an indispensable function of our democracy. Without it, we slide into autocracy.
No president, regardless of party, should dictate what members of the other two co-equal branches of government should do. Maybe it’s taken awhile, but it looks like Simpson is finally coming around to the idea that this president can’t simply usurp the powers of the legislative branch.
We can only hope that our other congressmen will follow Simpson’s lead.