Randy Neugebauer: Ideas to Uphold our Constitution

by Eric 07/27/2016

written by Eric 07/27/2016

Opening the William B. Crooker Memorial Highway near Big Spring
I was honored to join state and local officials last week at the successful opening of the William B. Crooker Memorial Highway. The highway provides a much-needed relief route to reduce heavy truck traffic through downtown Big Spring while still providing easy access to the community. The opening ceremony was organized by the Texas Department of Transportation and the Big Spring Chamber of Commerce. I had the privilege of presenting a flag flown over the United States Capitol to Joyce Crooker, widow of the late William Crooker. I knew Bill Crooker long before I became a Congressman – back when I served as the first president of the Ports-to-Plains Alliance, and Bill was a board member. Bill was such an advocate for this relief route and all of Howard County, so it is only fitting that this road carries his name.Examining the Republican Plan to Better Uphold our Constitution
Over the past several weeks, House Speaker Paul Ryan introduced a series of six policy platforms that came out of Republican congressional working groups. He calls these platforms “A Better Way.” I will be examining each of these six initiatives more in-depth over the next several weeks. This week, I am starting with ideas to uphold our Constitution.

Our founders created three equal branches of government in our Constitution because they understood that checks and balances would protect our freedoms and prevent the federal government from having too much authority. Unfortunately, over the last several decades, the balance of power has tipped toward the executive branch.

The House has already passed one proposal, which I highlighted in the Roundup last week, to correct this power shift. The “Chevron deference” can cause our courts to defer to the executive branch’s interpretation of rules and regulations. If H.R. 4768, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act, becomes law, it would repeal the “Chevron deference” and help re-balance power between the three branches of government.

Another way we can uphold our Constitution is by rolling back the ability of executive branch agencies to unilaterally issue major regulations. In some instances, Congress is to blame for writing laws that give federal agencies broad authority. However, often the executive branch acts alone and stretches the law far beyond its original intent. Requiring Congressional approval of major regulations would add another check on the power of the executive branch. In fact, if this extra check had been in place throughout the Obama Administration, Congress would have had a say in an average of 81 more regulations each year.

I firmly believe the best way Congress can uphold the Constitution is by taking back control of the budget and spending process. Right now, because of the complexity of the budget process and barriers between House and Senate procedures, Congress has failed, year after year, to carry out our basic budgetary responsibility. Congress cannot exercise its power of the purse when our process for doing so has broken down. We need to change the system and hold Congress and the Administration accountable for the $19 trillion in debt Americans are facing.

If we implemented just these three aspects of Speaker Ryan’s plan, Congress would take significant steps towards equalizing the balance of power between the three branches of government. For more information and the specifics of this plan, see Speaker Ryan’s paper on how we can work to uphold our Constitution.

Randy Neugebauer: Ideas to Uphold our Constitution

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