http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/19991027_xex_clinton_powe.shtml
Ron Paul is da man!!!
**********
Clinton power
vs. Net power
2 hearings on executive
orders this week
By Sarah Foster
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
Suddenly everybody is talking about executive orders:
Those arcane documents President Clinton has been
signing where he uses his pen to set national policy and
essentially rule by fiat -- bypassing Congress and, say
critics, running roughshod over our constitutional rights
and freedoms.
The White House doesn't deny the charge. It's proud of
the strategy of going over the heads of Congress.
"Stroke of the pen, law of the land, kinda cool," said
former Clinton supporter Paul Begala.
But now, after several years of simply complaining or
looking the other way, Congress is exerting itself. Two
hearings are scheduled this week, both dealing with
executive orders -- a topic that hasn't been studied by
that body for 20 years.
Part of the credit appears due to the Liberty Study
Committee, a newly formed group of 14 congressmen
and eight legislators -- founded by Rep. Paul, R-Tex. --
who are using the Internet to carry the fight for
American liberties and national sovereignty to the outer
limits of cyberspace and into the halls and offices of
Congress.
A recent success by the committee was the defeat of
the National ID card, a proposal first reported in
WorldNetDaily.
A House committee announced last week it would hold
a hearing on legislation introduced by Paul, which would
curb the president's ability to make laws by executive
order. The Separation of Powers Restoration Act, HR
2655, will be heard tomorrow by the Judiciary's
Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law,
chaired by Rep. George Gekas, R-Penn. Six witnesses
are scheduled to testify, including Reps. George
Metcalf, R-Wash., and Bob Barr, R-Ga.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill.,
issued the formal statement for Paul to speak on behalf
of his legislation.
"The American public has grown increasingly weary of
the use of executive orders, as presidents have used
them to bypass Congress and legislate from the Oval
Office," says Paul, describing his bill. "Presidents must
be able to direct their employees, but this power must
be closely confined by the laws which they are
constitutionally and legislatively empowered to execute."
The unexpected scheduling came just days after
WorldNetDaily publicized Paul's bill and the project by
the Liberty Study Committee to provide Americans
with a conduit for communicating, via the Internet,
directly with their representatives and senators in
Congress. The scheduling may have been prompted, at
least in part, by the influx of e-mails to Congress asking
representatives to support legislation that would curtail
the president's ability to legislate by executive order.
This was made possible by a special website whereby
constituents could contact their representatives quickly,
with minimum effort.
Kent Snyder, executive director for the Liberty Study
Committee, said it is "highly unusual" for a bill like HR
2566 to be scheduled so quickly.
"This is great news," he said. "The issue of executive
orders is something that has not been discussed in a
congressional setting for many years, so this is a first
step. It's the first opportunity our side has had to
present information in a legislative hearing -- and we'll
be taking full advantage of that."
In his view, "The scheduling at this time proves our
effort is working and shows the effectiveness of the
Internet. We get our website in place, 4,000 messages
come into Congress about executive orders, and we get
two congressional hearings in one week -- one for a bill
that nobody had heard about or paid attention to.
We're doing something right."
But Snyder had a few words of caution. "Overall, I'm
optimistic about the opportunity here. We will have a
great chance to present the issue, then present the
legislative solution which is HR 2655.
"But we are definitely aware that while it is an
opportunity for us, it's also an opportunity for our foes
to cut us off at the knees. The administration knows
there is a an active political action group out there that's
been sending letters and messages. There is a website
that people who are active and informed are using.
"You can figure that our foes would do one of two
things: Either dismiss the issue and the people and hope
they'll go away, or take action -- cut us off at the knees.
They could use this hearing to do that in some way.
They may try to seize the chance to kill the legislation.
"That is why we are very much on alert to the possibility
of our foes taking the opportunity to cut this issue down
and shut it off."
The second hearing -- which is being heard today -- is
an informational one by the Rules Committee's
Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process,
chaired by Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla.
"The purpose of the hearing is to review the process,
guidelines and legal authorities of executive orders and
assess their impact on the legislative process," said
Goss. "Executive orders by this and any president can
encroach on the lawmaking authority of the Congress."
Virginia attorney William J. Olson, one of several
witnesses scheduled to testify at today's subcommittee
hearing, is elated at the recent interest in the subject of
presidential power grabbing. An article by Olson titled
"Executive Orders and National Emergencies:
Presidential Power Grab Nearly Unchecked," was
publicized by WorldNetDaily in January. The article
had appeared as an eight-page legal report of the
Abraham Lincoln Foundation, a non-profit, public
policy organization in Washington, D.C. The article and
others is posted on Olson's website.
That article was the genesis of a 30-page in-depth study
Olson and attorney Alan Woll, recently completed for
the Cato Institute, a non-profit "think tank," in
Washington."
Commenting on the hearing, Olson described the timing
of events this week as "providential."
"There's the Cato Institute bringing out this study in the
same week that two congressional subcommittees are
looking at the very issue we wrote about. Can you
believe it? There's been no interest in this since the
mid-'70s, and now we have two hearings in one week."
Olson said the hearing he is testifying, "They'll be
looking at the issue of separation of powers and the
proper role of the executive branch.
"That's a nice counterpoint to the legislative hearing on
Thursday," he noted. "One day we look at the
touchstone of the Constitution and the next day we look
at specific proposals to correct the relationship between
the legislative and executive branches as it's become."
How great a role did the Internet -- and in particular the
executiveorders.org website play in developing a
climate for the hearings?
According to Jennifer Millerwise, media contact for
Goss, the holding of such a hearing was not "spurred on
by any outside influence," such as an e-mail campaign.
"We've been planning on having a hearing on executive
orders since the beginning of this Congress," she said.
"It was part of our oversight plan of the Rules
Committee. It's taken a lot of research and work to
come together and it happens to be the time we were
prepared to have it."
The scheduling of the hearing tomorrow may have been
a surprise to some of the Goss staffers.
"We found out the Judiciary Committee was having a
hearing at the same time -- they sort of tripped over
each other. But it was not a coordinated effort, though it
happened to be a goal that both of the committees have
had since the beginning of the year."
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
Ron Paul is da man!!!
**********
Clinton power
vs. Net power
2 hearings on executive
orders this week
By Sarah Foster
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
Suddenly everybody is talking about executive orders:
Those arcane documents President Clinton has been
signing where he uses his pen to set national policy and
essentially rule by fiat -- bypassing Congress and, say
critics, running roughshod over our constitutional rights
and freedoms.
The White House doesn't deny the charge. It's proud of
the strategy of going over the heads of Congress.
"Stroke of the pen, law of the land, kinda cool," said
former Clinton supporter Paul Begala.
But now, after several years of simply complaining or
looking the other way, Congress is exerting itself. Two
hearings are scheduled this week, both dealing with
executive orders -- a topic that hasn't been studied by
that body for 20 years.
Part of the credit appears due to the Liberty Study
Committee, a newly formed group of 14 congressmen
and eight legislators -- founded by Rep. Paul, R-Tex. --
who are using the Internet to carry the fight for
American liberties and national sovereignty to the outer
limits of cyberspace and into the halls and offices of
Congress.
A recent success by the committee was the defeat of
the National ID card, a proposal first reported in
WorldNetDaily.
A House committee announced last week it would hold
a hearing on legislation introduced by Paul, which would
curb the president's ability to make laws by executive
order. The Separation of Powers Restoration Act, HR
2655, will be heard tomorrow by the Judiciary's
Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law,
chaired by Rep. George Gekas, R-Penn. Six witnesses
are scheduled to testify, including Reps. George
Metcalf, R-Wash., and Bob Barr, R-Ga.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill.,
issued the formal statement for Paul to speak on behalf
of his legislation.
"The American public has grown increasingly weary of
the use of executive orders, as presidents have used
them to bypass Congress and legislate from the Oval
Office," says Paul, describing his bill. "Presidents must
be able to direct their employees, but this power must
be closely confined by the laws which they are
constitutionally and legislatively empowered to execute."
The unexpected scheduling came just days after
WorldNetDaily publicized Paul's bill and the project by
the Liberty Study Committee to provide Americans
with a conduit for communicating, via the Internet,
directly with their representatives and senators in
Congress. The scheduling may have been prompted, at
least in part, by the influx of e-mails to Congress asking
representatives to support legislation that would curtail
the president's ability to legislate by executive order.
This was made possible by a special website whereby
constituents could contact their representatives quickly,
with minimum effort.
Kent Snyder, executive director for the Liberty Study
Committee, said it is "highly unusual" for a bill like HR
2566 to be scheduled so quickly.
"This is great news," he said. "The issue of executive
orders is something that has not been discussed in a
congressional setting for many years, so this is a first
step. It's the first opportunity our side has had to
present information in a legislative hearing -- and we'll
be taking full advantage of that."
In his view, "The scheduling at this time proves our
effort is working and shows the effectiveness of the
Internet. We get our website in place, 4,000 messages
come into Congress about executive orders, and we get
two congressional hearings in one week -- one for a bill
that nobody had heard about or paid attention to.
We're doing something right."
But Snyder had a few words of caution. "Overall, I'm
optimistic about the opportunity here. We will have a
great chance to present the issue, then present the
legislative solution which is HR 2655.
"But we are definitely aware that while it is an
opportunity for us, it's also an opportunity for our foes
to cut us off at the knees. The administration knows
there is a an active political action group out there that's
been sending letters and messages. There is a website
that people who are active and informed are using.
"You can figure that our foes would do one of two
things: Either dismiss the issue and the people and hope
they'll go away, or take action -- cut us off at the knees.
They could use this hearing to do that in some way.
They may try to seize the chance to kill the legislation.
"That is why we are very much on alert to the possibility
of our foes taking the opportunity to cut this issue down
and shut it off."
The second hearing -- which is being heard today -- is
an informational one by the Rules Committee's
Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process,
chaired by Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla.
"The purpose of the hearing is to review the process,
guidelines and legal authorities of executive orders and
assess their impact on the legislative process," said
Goss. "Executive orders by this and any president can
encroach on the lawmaking authority of the Congress."
Virginia attorney William J. Olson, one of several
witnesses scheduled to testify at today's subcommittee
hearing, is elated at the recent interest in the subject of
presidential power grabbing. An article by Olson titled
"Executive Orders and National Emergencies:
Presidential Power Grab Nearly Unchecked," was
publicized by WorldNetDaily in January. The article
had appeared as an eight-page legal report of the
Abraham Lincoln Foundation, a non-profit, public
policy organization in Washington, D.C. The article and
others is posted on Olson's website.
That article was the genesis of a 30-page in-depth study
Olson and attorney Alan Woll, recently completed for
the Cato Institute, a non-profit "think tank," in
Washington."
Commenting on the hearing, Olson described the timing
of events this week as "providential."
"There's the Cato Institute bringing out this study in the
same week that two congressional subcommittees are
looking at the very issue we wrote about. Can you
believe it? There's been no interest in this since the
mid-'70s, and now we have two hearings in one week."
Olson said the hearing he is testifying, "They'll be
looking at the issue of separation of powers and the
proper role of the executive branch.
"That's a nice counterpoint to the legislative hearing on
Thursday," he noted. "One day we look at the
touchstone of the Constitution and the next day we look
at specific proposals to correct the relationship between
the legislative and executive branches as it's become."
How great a role did the Internet -- and in particular the
executiveorders.org website play in developing a
climate for the hearings?
According to Jennifer Millerwise, media contact for
Goss, the holding of such a hearing was not "spurred on
by any outside influence," such as an e-mail campaign.
"We've been planning on having a hearing on executive
orders since the beginning of this Congress," she said.
"It was part of our oversight plan of the Rules
Committee. It's taken a lot of research and work to
come together and it happens to be the time we were
prepared to have it."
The scheduling of the hearing tomorrow may have been
a surprise to some of the Goss staffers.
"We found out the Judiciary Committee was having a
hearing at the same time -- they sort of tripped over
each other. But it was not a coordinated effort, though it
happened to be a goal that both of the committees have
had since the beginning of the year."
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
