Obama to bypass Congress?

ABUSE OF POWER
Obama to bypass Congress?
Leftist think tank recommends president rule by executive order

The Center for American Progress, a leftist think-tank based in Washington, D.C., and headed by former Clinton administration Chief of Staff John Podesta, has issued this month a series of recommendations regarding how President Obama can implement a progressive agenda in complete disregard of Congress, now that the Republicans control the majority in the House of Representatives.

In a daring expose that openly advocates utilizing presidential executive decisions without regard to new laws passed by Congress or the will of the American people, Podesta and his Center for American Progress staff and senior fellows issued this month a report titled "The Power of the President: Recommendations to Advance Progressive Change."

"In the aftermath of this month's midterm congressional elections, pundits and politicians across the ideological spectrum are focusing on how difficult it will be for President Barack Obama to advance his policy priorities through Congress," Podesta wrote in a foreword to the report. "Predictions of stalemate abound. And some debate whether the administration should tack to the left of the center and compromise with or confront the new House leadership."

Podesta suggests ignoring Congress and the American people altogether, recommending instead that Obama enact a leftist agenda through executive action, utilizing the following prerogatives of the presidency:

* executive orders;

* rulemaking through executive branch administrative agencies;

* agency management;

* convening and creating public-private partnerships;

* commanding the armed forces; and

* diplomacy

"The ability of President Obama to accomplish important change through these powers should not be underestimated," Podesta stressed. "Congressional deadlock does not mean the federal government stands still.

What Podesta makes clear is the concept of elevating the presidency into the status of the first among the three U.S. branches of government and expanding the powers of the presidency with an imperial resolve remain alive and well in the Obama White House.

Public policy by executive dictum

In what amounts to formulating public policy by executive dictum, the Center for American Progress urged President Obama to implement executive decisions in a wide range public policy initiatives in complete disregard of Congress.

To get a feel of the imperiousness of the Podesta report consider just a few of the recommendations:

* Energy policy: President Obama should instruct the secretary of commerce and the secretary of defense to determine if continued high rates of oil imports threaten to impair national security. If they do make that determination, President Obama should invoke authority under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to levy a $2 per barrel fee on the nearly two-thirds of U.S. oil imported from foreign sources. This would raise $9.5 billion to reduce the federal deficit or to use the funds for clean energy investments. The levy would raise gasoline prices by an estimated 2 cents per gallon.

* Jobs: Under the Small Business Jobs Act signed into law last September, President Obama should takes steps that would increase deficit spending by executive action in creating a $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund to provide capital to community banks to increase lending, funding $1.5 billion to state programs designed to lend to small businesses, and convening a series of Small Business Investment Summits with lenders, small businesses, venture capital lenders and others to promote job creation.

* Foreclosure crisis: President Obama should direct the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Treasury to coordinate with the Federal Housing Administration, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to identify clusters of foreclosed homes that can be converted from bank "real-estate owned" to portfolios of rental properties that can be sold to private investor groups, with appropriate government subsidies.

* Illegal immigration: President Obama should continue directing the Department of Homeland Security not to deport illegal immigrants unless they have committed a crime in the United States, over and above having entered the country illegally. President Obama should instruct DHS that illegal immigrants who have not committed additional crimes in the United States should be released on their own recognizance, rather than held in detention.

* Sexual agenda: President Obama should direct the many federal bureaucracies collecting data to use Data.gov to develop high-quality data on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans to better serve LGBT communities and individuals.

In foreign policy, the Podesta report recommended a series of presidential directives to advance the interests of gays in the military and to support the Palestinian authority to expand governance programs and maintain strong economic growth.

EPA to impose carbon taxes on U.S. economy

The Podesta report helps put into context Obama's decision to impose carbon taxes through the Environmental Protection Act given that obtaining cap-and-trade legislation through a Republican-controlled House is a near impossibility.

In December, the Environmental Protection Agency, acting under the authority of the Clean Air Act, took steps to control carbon emissions blamed for global warning from power plants, factories and refineries, without waiting for Congress to act on cap-and-trade.

The EPA ruled that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, endanger human health under the Clean Air Act, despite the fact human beings exhale carbon dioxide that trees and other plants absorb.

The EPA decision opened the door for the Obama administration to impose restrictions on the use of carbon-based fuels in the United States, even if Congress never passes the administration's proposed cap-and-trade legislation.

The Associated Press reported that the EPA would require industrial plants that emit 25,000 tons of greenhouses gases a year or more to install technology to improve energy efficiency whenever a facility is changed or built.

The EPA has also delayed 79 coal-mining permits in four states, arguing the planned coal mining operations would cause significant damage to water quality and the environment under the specifications of the Clean Water Act.

In his nationally televised press conference in the wake of the midterm elections earlier this month, President Obama indicated that carbon taxes may be imposed on the U.S. through regulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency, in a move designed to bypass Congress altogether.

"The EPA is under a court order that says greenhouse gases are a pollutant that fall under their jurisdiction," Obama said. "And I think one of the things that's very important for me is not to have us ignore the science, but rather to find ways that we can solve these problems that don't hurt the economy, that encourage the development of clean energy in this country, that, in fact, may give us opportunities to create entire new industries and create jobs that – and that put us in a competitive posture around the world."

In other words, Obama intends to pursue the ideological cause of reducing carbon emissions despite growing doubt in the international scientific community about the validity of anthropogenic climate-warming theories.

"Cap-and-trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way," Obama said at the press conference. "And I'm going to be looking for other means to address this problem."

11/29/10