Marcus Aurelius
05-23-2013, 03:01 PM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324787004578495033226047680.html?m od=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Major news outlets in recent days have reported that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is raising money from the private sector—including from health-care executives—for use by a private entity that is helping to implement ObamaCare. The entity, Enroll America, is run by a former White House aide.
The Washington Post quoted an HHS spokesman last week saying, "We requested additional money [from Congress] . . . but we didn't receive any additional funding for the exchanges. So we had to come up with Plan B."
My immediate thought was: Isn't "Plan B" what got Oliver North in trouble during the 1980s?
regarding Iran-Contra...
The report of the bipartisan majority of the Iran-Contra Select Committee summarized the law in November 1987: "The Constitution does prohibit receipt and collection of such funds by this government absent an appropriation. This appropriation may not be evaded by use of a nominally private entity if the entity is in reality an arm of the government and the government is able to direct how the money is spent."
Our country's Founders—at least most of them—did not want a king. So they included in the Constitution a Congress and a Bill of Rights to curb executive power. Congress's exclusive power of the purse is the strongest such curb.
The Obama administration is not the first to chafe under these restraints, but it has been among the most flagrant in ignoring them.
Last week, chairmen and ranking Republicans on five congressional committees in both houses of Congress asked the Government Accountability Office to find out the facts. Is Ms. Sebelius raising funds for a private entity and then coordinating with that entity to do something Congress has refused to authorize, or for which it has refused to appropriate funds? And is she raising money from organizations she regulates, in violation of ethics laws?
If the money being raised by Ms. Sebelius is being spent to do an end-run around Congress, then the Obama administration had better brush up on its Iran-Contra history.
Major news outlets in recent days have reported that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is raising money from the private sector—including from health-care executives—for use by a private entity that is helping to implement ObamaCare. The entity, Enroll America, is run by a former White House aide.
The Washington Post quoted an HHS spokesman last week saying, "We requested additional money [from Congress] . . . but we didn't receive any additional funding for the exchanges. So we had to come up with Plan B."
My immediate thought was: Isn't "Plan B" what got Oliver North in trouble during the 1980s?
regarding Iran-Contra...
The report of the bipartisan majority of the Iran-Contra Select Committee summarized the law in November 1987: "The Constitution does prohibit receipt and collection of such funds by this government absent an appropriation. This appropriation may not be evaded by use of a nominally private entity if the entity is in reality an arm of the government and the government is able to direct how the money is spent."
Our country's Founders—at least most of them—did not want a king. So they included in the Constitution a Congress and a Bill of Rights to curb executive power. Congress's exclusive power of the purse is the strongest such curb.
The Obama administration is not the first to chafe under these restraints, but it has been among the most flagrant in ignoring them.
Last week, chairmen and ranking Republicans on five congressional committees in both houses of Congress asked the Government Accountability Office to find out the facts. Is Ms. Sebelius raising funds for a private entity and then coordinating with that entity to do something Congress has refused to authorize, or for which it has refused to appropriate funds? And is she raising money from organizations she regulates, in violation of ethics laws?
If the money being raised by Ms. Sebelius is being spent to do an end-run around Congress, then the Obama administration had better brush up on its Iran-Contra history.