Posted on 07/22/2022 8:23:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Washington Post reported Monday night that President Joe Biden is "considering whether to declare a national climate emergency" to "salvage his stalled environmental agenda and satisfy Democrats on Capitol Hill." A few hours later, the Associated Press reported that the administration would "hold off" on the announcement as he, presumably, lays the political groundwork to move forward.
There's no "It's Summer" clause in the Constitution empowering the president to ignore the will of Congress and unilaterally govern when it gets hot. The rejection of the president's "agenda" by the lawmaking branch of government isn't a justification for executive action; it's the opposite. The Senate has unambiguously declined to implement Biden's climate plan.
Though you have to marvel at the utter shamelessness of Democrats, incessantly warning that "democracy" is on the precipice of extinction, now urging the president to act like a petty dictator. It's been less than a month since the Supreme Court rejected the Environmental Protection Agency's claim that bureaucrats could govern without Congress to regulate carbon (which is to say, the entire economy). What makes anyone believe that the president -- who, incidentally, just got back from begging Saudi theocrats to pump more oil -- is imbued with the power to enact a new regulatory regime or funding by fiat?
We now have senators like Jeff Merkley, who told reporters on Monday that Biden's emergency edict "unchains the president from waiting for Congress to act," openly undermining their oath to the Constitution by attacking the institution they represent. Congress may have spent decades abdicating its responsibilities -- which, despite conventional wisdom, isn't to rubber-stamp the Democrats' agenda -- but its members rarely advocated openly for executive abuse. I guess they're evolving.
Bloomberg reports that an emergency declaration would "unlock" the president's power to redirect "federal funding to clean-energy construction." When former President Donald Trump enacted an emergency declaration to reallocate funding earmarked for military projects to build a wall on the U.S. southern border -- "a clear attempt to circumvent the legislative branch and one that I hope leads to the Supreme Court overturning the abused National Emergencies Act," I wrote at the time, so save your emails -- the entire establishment melted down. "Declaring a National Emergency Could Give Trump Authoritarian Powers," a columnist at New York Magazine claimed. "A Win For Trump's Authoritarian Agenda," wrote another in Forbes. And so on. It's worth remembering the border is within the purview of the federal government. Trying to control the weather is not.
Which brings us to another small problem: There is no emergency. Politicians might treat every hurricane, tornado and flood as an apocalyptic event -- and then conveniently blame their political opponents for failing to rein in nature -- but by every quantifiable measure humankind is less affected by climate than ever before. Despite the massive expansion of fossil fuel use, despite the explosion of the world's population, far fewer people die from the climate.
Our ability to adapt to the vagaries of weather and acclimatize to the realities of climate change -- whatever they may be -- is far cheaper than state-compelled dismantling of the Constitution (and modernity). You may vigorously disagree. And that is a political debate about policy that belongs in Congress among representatives of the people. If every hurricane, heat wave or flood is a justification for unilateral federal executive governance, we will be in a perpetual emergency. Regulating carbon emissions is an open-ended invitation to regulate the entire economy. Which is the point.
And just as historically high gas prices -- driven, in part, by the administration's efforts to create fossil fuels scarcity -- are slightly ebbing, Democrats want Biden "to halt crude oil exports, limit oil and gas drilling in federal waters, and direct agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency to boost renewable-energy sources." Even if there was an emergency, the notion that diverting some money to prop up unreliable energy sources or subsidize more electric car production is going to do anything to change the trajectory of the climate is a risible claim. The real emergency is that we have a lawless party pushing lawlessness.
With the wall, Congress was grossly derelict in its duty to secure the border and prevent an invasion. Expressly so, just to spite President Trump.
President Trump was well within his right and duty to declare the emergency and reallocate funds to build the wall.
So destroy the American economy for what? To help “Global Climate Change”? Really? Because China and India have no intention of doing the same. So we destroy OUR economy for the elite? How about-No Thank You.
Funny dems just disobey the laws they do not want to follow. How about we do the same and just start drilling again.
It’s impeachable but I’ll bet you a million dollars the only thing republicans do is wet the bed
He has no right to claim to be President.
the “problem” is that liberals claim Bush declared an emergency on the border- so they now claim they have the ‘right’ to do so- but the difference is, the one is an opinion (climate) while the other was a fact- (the border)- ILLEGALS were pouring over the border, and are causing massive problems verifiable in our country- to the tune of now over a Trillion dollars a year (it was about $600,000,000,000 more than a decade ago- this figure takes into account direct costs and indirect- This kind of expense is a crisis or our country, whereas the lcimate issue is not- there are differing OPINIONS on the matter- and facts that show that there is nothing we can do about it anyways)
FDR and Nixon got away with ruling by decree like some kind of Roman emperor because (a) they won honest landslide victories, and (b) they dealt with genuine national emergencies. Xiden, by contrast, “won” a stolen election and is pushing an obvious hoax that’s ironically both communist and plutocrat.
The real emergency is that we have a lawless party pushing lawlessness.
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And THAT’S WHY I call d.c.
Washington District of Cartels
Cuz that’s literally what it has become.
Gosh, apologies beforehand, but elected officials and govt in general has no “ right” at all; they have powers granted by the constitution and laws agreed upon by the people.
Back to the regular program.
A scam on the America we once knew
Yep...I declare a Presidential emergency.
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