Idaho’s Congressional delegation takes a pass on Constitutional governing

Guest Editorial by Jim Jones

On January 20, Donald Trump solemnly swore that he would, to the best of his ability, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Immediately afterwards, he began churning out a slew of executive orders, a number of which violated that sacred oath. He put an unelected chaos agent, Elon Musk, in charge of shredding the US Government in clear defiance of our Constitutional order. There has been no effort by Trump or the Republican House and Senate to stop his lawlessness.

All four members of Idaho’s Congressional delegation have placed their hand on a Bible and sworn in the presence of God that they “will support and defend the Constitution.” God may well be greatly disappointed that our Senators and Congressmen have stood by like frightened deer in the headlights, watching governmental agencies that were established and funded by law being taken down single handedly by a self-interested multi-billionaire who displays utter contempt for the rule of law. So much for their oath.

Just for the benefit of our delegation, the Constitution established three branches of government with checks and balances to keep the various branches from riding roughshod over one another. Government offices were to be established and funded by laws enacted by Congress and approved by the President. Getting rid of those offices must be done through that same process.

Presidents have often wanted to short circuit the lawful process, but have been stymied at every turn–well, until now. A Republican Congress passed the Line Item Veto Act in 1994, authorizing the President to unilaterally amend or repeal parts of statutes passed by Congress. The Act was challenged in court by a number of groups that had suffered the effects of such vetoes by President Clinton. One of those groups was the Snake River Potato Growers, Inc. The US Supreme Court struck down the law as violative of the separation of powers. When an agency has been established and funded by law, the President has no power under the Constitution to kill the agency or its funding.

My former boss, Senator Len Jordan, inspired an earlier law designed to prevent a President from refusing to spend legally-appropriated money. Jordan provided the spark for passage of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which prohibits a president from making the kind of funding cuts being imposed by Musk. Jordan took the lead against Richard Nixon, a President of his own party, because Nixon was trying to usurp the Constitutional power of Congress to control the nation’s purse strings. Sadly, our submissive delegation does not have the courage to protect that power.

The most alarming action taken by Musk and his band of marauders is their breach of the Treasury’s computer center that sends out payments to practically every person, business and agency in the country. We are talking about $6 trillion in payments each year. Every taxpayer’s information is at risk. Any person receiving Social Security, Veterans benefits or any other type of payment from the government is subject to scrutiny by Musk and his marauders. The marauders have not been properly vetted to access such highly confidential information and they are not subject to any type of adult supervision. The prospect of some of America’s closely-held secrets being used for personal gain or, worse, making their way into the hands of an enemy, is frightening.

In the absence of any pushback from spineless Republicans, a federal judge took action to stop the lawless plundering by Musk and his marauders. The judge issued an order on February 7 to halt the unlawful seizure of government financial data. The Trump forces huffed at the court’s ruling and it remains to be seen whether they will obey. Musk has called for impeachment of the judge.

If Trump decides to blow off the courts, the do-nothing GOP Congress will not have the courage to stop him. They may not realize that if Musk can use the payment system to halt payments for purposes he doesn't like, he also may be able to direct payment of the halted funds to uses not authorized by law. Musk could stop payments to his competitors or to anyone who dares criticize him. Trump could also stop payments for purposes he doesn’t care about, like benefits earned by my fellow veterans, and use the money for things he does like, such as bestowing tax benefits upon his fellow billionaires or financing a fantastic resort and golf course on the Gaza Strip.

If Trump and Musk thumb their noses at the federal court system and are able to continue seizing unfettered control of the nation’s finances, the US Constitution will be on life support and we will be on our way to a dictatorship. We will have a gutless GOP House and Senate to thank for it.

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About the Author

Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as a Justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). His columns are collected at JJCommonTater.com