...I thought that it might be nice to provide everyone with a copy of the 2013 Federal Budget for the 2013 Fiscal Year that you can study up on. That way, in an argument on the political boards, you might be able to see and to know what it is that you are talking about...
CLICK HERE for the pdf DOWNLOAD of the 2013 Federal Budget. (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... tes%2Fdefa ult%2Ffiles%2Fomb%2Fbudget%2Ffy2013%2Fassets%2Fbud get.pdf&ei=ArroUIjiLaPZ0wHwooDgDw&usg=AFQjCNEkOBhaAO2odXZxfuKTnXJ9JaqL1w&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.dmQ)
A-1, please clear up my confusion about the budget. My understanding, perhaps mistaken, is that only Congress could grant final approval to a budget. The President may propose a budget, but Congress may accept or reject his proposal or any part of his proposal. Remembering the 1960s and 1970s, were there not fights between the legislative and executive branches regarding the President's budget proposals?
The Constitution gives Congress the power to tax, borrow, regulate commerce, coin money, raise and support armies, and "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers." Most important, "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time." If the Congress decides how to raise and how to spend money, and keeps the accounts, is that not budgeting? Has not the Congress been derelict for the last three years in passing no budget, for the first time in US history? Who has decided, and for what reasons, to delegate what is perhaps Congress's most important power to the Executive? Can this be done without amending the Constitution? If I'm right, this 2013 Budget document is only a proposal.
