gimini210's Blog

Take note of the powers of congress. Congress controls federal spending.  They also control interstate and foreign commerce, definition or commerce is as follows:

trade in goods and services: the large-scale buying and selling of goods and services
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Then we go to the statement it is the spending on the war in Iraq. Note that the congress was given the same infor as the president and they are the ONLY ones who can declare war so they are responsible but like children and criminals, blame some one else.

Then we have Pork  barrel spending and Senator Stevens. The definition of pork is more or less that a person attches it to a bill for personal gains. Kind of like two Senators who work on a commity to regulate morgages and are given special low % rates on their home morgages. Pork Barrel should be illegal as well as special intrest groups and lobiest. Where any of them are we can count on taxes going to them.

Still, when everything is taken into account look who is responciable for the spending. How do you blame another person for what you are suppose to be doing?

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/government/nation
al/congress2.html

The Constitution grants Congress "all legislative powers" in the national government. Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution lists a wide range of congressional powers, including:

• Coining money.
• Maintaining a military.
• Declaring war on other countries.
• Regulating interstate and foreign commerce

Congress also controls federal taxing and spending policies—one of the most important sources of power in the government. The Constitution also gives Congress the authority to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper," an implied source of power sometimes called the Elastic Clause.

In addition to the power described above, Congress shares powers with the president in matters such as, framing U.S. foreign policy and control over the military. For example, while the president negotiates treaties, they are only put into effect once the Senate approves them. Also, while Congress can declare war and approve funds for the military, the president is the commander-in-chief of the military.

Note there is nothing the president can do without the congress approving it. So if these are the responsibilities of congress then why do they keep shifting the blame? I have been curious about this for years as I learned how our government was run as a child in school.