The National Emergency Act As Written Today Is A Screwed-Up Law!

The National Emergency Act under which President Trump has declared a national emergency on America's Southern border and plans to reappropriate monies earmarked for defense to build a wall on this border is a really screwed up law. The law wasn't when it was passed in 1976 it was a prudent law giving the President the power to declare a national emergency and providing a good check for stopping a President from over reaching by only requiring both chambers of Congress to pass a concurrent resolution terminating the emergency declaration for it to be terminated. Then in 1985 the Act was changed and instead of only requiring a concurrent resolution to be passed Congress is now required a joint resolution be passed to terminate the declaration meaning that both chambers of congress have to pass the terminating resolution and it needs to be signed by the President for it to be effective. The Act was probably changed as a result of a case brought around that time challenging President Reagan's declaration of a National Emergency and imposing a trade embargo against Nicaragua; the plaintiff an American businessman hurt by the embargo won on the issue where the District Court Judge found that the Act's provision not requiring the terminating resolution to be signed by the President was unconstitutional because the judge found that the termination of a Emergency Declaration was a legislative act on par with making a law and pursuant to Article One Sec Seven required the signature of the President! The 1985 Congress acted foolishly they should have let the U.S. Supreme Court rule on the issue before amending the act. The District Court Judge showed poor reasoning in the case the NEA granted the President the power to declare a National Emergency and take power specified by Congress in other laws set aside for national emergencies; the Act's termination authority was not giving Congress the power to terminate any innate power of the Presidency it was only terminating power they gave to the President. The NEA should be changed back because the current state of the law subverts Congress being a coequal branch of government with the President and is just plain stupid. What the current version of the Act requires for a President to be checked in an over reach of power doesn't make any sense. A President is only going to declare a national emergency if he or she wants to acquire significant additional power not ordinarily available to the President and he needs this power to carry out his duties so the current Act requires after each chamber of Congress passes a terminating resolution for the President then to sign that resolution. By signing it the President would be saying that he was wrong that he made a mistake in his reasoning on a major Presidential action in declaring a national emergency, that is a ridiculous bar to be met almost no President is going to be so meek! Frankly, if I was sitting on U.S. Supreme Court and I was hearing a challenge to this declaration and resteering of money by President Donald Trump I would be inclined to find that the 1985 amendment made the whole legislative scheme in the NEA unconstitutional essentially because the way the law is written now Congress gave away some of its power over the nation's purse to the President this is contrary to the constitutional design of our government established by America's founders which gave the decision on appropriating federal monies solely to Congress!

 

/me hands OP a carriage return.

The law is way too vague and vast.It should either be amended to define more narrowly what can be done, or simply repealed.

A Guide to Emergency Powers and Their Use

 

That's why the courts will have to resolve it. I've got news for you the house and senate as currently constituted not only aren't going to do a redo of the emergency powers act any time soon they will not be able to over ride a Trump veto.

 

The Supreme Court rarely will rule on a case that congress has the ability to fix itself.

That has been their history up to this point.

It would need to be some form of gross negligence for them to respond to it.

This isn't it.

The reason for this is that it has nothing to do with any constitutional issue, it's all legislative and would be a serious infringement on the separation of powers.

 

You need to pass an amendment prohibiting branches of government from delegating their powers to other branches or the bureaucracy.

 

Hehe.

Congress couldn't do their job if that was taken away from them though.

 

They have a vested interest in giving all their powers away (or more specifically, the people's powers) because of the massive incumbancy advantage. All they have to do is avoid controversy.

The result is that practically all legislative power has been given over to the executive bureaucracy.

 

Like on the carriage return.

Congress should not cede its authority, instead the voters should force it to function or swiftly remove their representatives

 

The National Emergency Act As Written Today Is A Screwed-Up Law!

Is there a law that is not screwed up?

 

The law would not seem screwed up if congress did its job.

What is screwed up is congress. Instead of doing its job it passes responsibility off on the courts and the executive to govern. Congress is full of career politicians who only work to get re-elected. They are afraid of actually governing.

 

Agreed. Congress passes a poorly written law, then the people look to the judicial branch to fix the law, that is definitely not how our system of government works. Sadly, we have such an piss poor education system, that too many ignorant Americans think this is exactly how our government works. I truly worry about America's future, with so much ignorance concerning the proper function and intended purpose of the federal government.

 

Congress is hitting the "easy" button, when it legislates away their power. This way they aren't held accountable to make the big decisions. Because, they would have to worry over the repercussions to their reelection chances if they were held responsible. It's easier to shrug their shoulders and throw up their hands and point to the executive branch, when lobbyists, special interest groups and their constituents look to them to pass legislation on controversial issues.

Just look at federal regulations, Congress wants to be able to point the finger of blame at nameless, faceless, career bureaucrats within the deep state, when lobbyists or constituents complain over the often crazy and harmful regulatory laws are passed. It's also why the ACA has line after line saying "as the secretary may determine..." The cowardly members of the House and Senate never want to be held accountable for bad legislation that they wrote. It's why members of Congress who have served for twenty or thirty years can get away, year after year, pretending it's someone else's fault that we have 20 million illegal aliens.

 

If there was ever an appropriate application of a National Emergency Act, it is at hand. Congress and the President established the groundwork for and approval of a border fence in 2006, the Secure Fence Act. Congress appropriated funds for national defense. Partisan politics is the only reason some of the FY2019 defense budget isn't applied to deliver the 2006 authorized fence. Only the executive branch has the necessary information to make the judgment whether to allow partisan politics to stand or protect the United States with funds already appropriated for defense.