Saturday, January 19, 2013

FOXNews.com: Possible snag for Republicans' no-pay budget plan

FOXNews.com
FOX News Network - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com
Possible snag for Republicans' no-pay budget plan
Jan 19th 2013, 15:52

House Republicans might run into a snag in trying to suspend congressional pay as a way to nudge budget negotiations along: the U.S. Constitution.

As part of a proposal to raise the debt limit for three months, the House GOP would suspend pay for members of Congress unless both the House and the Senate pass a budget blueprint for the next fiscal year.

The measure plays to public disaffection with Congress, which has been locked in a bitter spending battle, and appeals to the small-government wing of the Republican Party, which doesn't like government spending to begin with. It is also a dig at Senate Democrats, who have gone for years without adopting a budget plan.

The problem is that immediately withholding pay from lawmakers may be unconstitutional. The 27th amendment states no law changing compensation for members of the House or the Senate can take effect until after the next House election. That means a law, even if it were to clear the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is a long shot, could not be used to withhold pay for almost two years.

To read more from The Wall Street Journal, click here:

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com.

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 
Great HTML Templates from easytemplates.com.