And the President’s authority to do this derives from — well, where, exactly?
“And the President’s authority to do this derives from — well, where, exactly?”
It’s called the power of the purse. Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution gives the Congress the authority to tax and spend.
Obama asks congress to include a compensation restriction in the bill, Congress adds it, passes it and he signs it. So he doesn’t himself have the power but in coordination with Congress, he can impose anything if it is attached to our tax dollars.
He is using the bully pulpit to let Congress know that this is coming...he’s playing politics to get constituents of Congress on board first.
Bush did the same thing with TARP version 1 but it was left relaxed and somewhat “optional”. So that first 700 billion that came out of our checks might as well have been flushed down the toilet.