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Three steps back, two steps forward
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Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Curiousity: Is there anything that requires the president to spend earmarked money as directed in legislative history? I'm not talking about actual statutory provisions for the research of butterflies at mississippi state university. But if there's just a long leg. history saying build a bridge to nowhere, what legally prevents the president from telling DOT spend the money on any old highway, not that bridge? And I'm not asking whether it would be politically savvy.
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Article I of the Constitution gives the Congress the power to appropriate money ("earmark" is a term of art meaning something a little more specific), and that it would be a radical change from the way that power has always been understood to say that once Congress decides that some sum of money is going to be spent, the President gets to decide on what.
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“It was fortunate that so few men acted according to moral principle, because it was so easy to get principles wrong, and a determined person acting on mistaken principles could really do some damage." - Larissa MacFarquhar
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