Research Catalog

Title

Congressional abdication on war and spending / Louis Fisher.

Author

Fisher, Louis

Publication

College Station, TX : Texas A&M University Press, c2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xv, 220 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

• "The balance of powers among the branches of government is the defining structure of American democracy. The Founders assumed each branch would jealously guard its own prerogatives to prevent tyrannical power. Were they wrong?" "For thirty years Fisher has observed, informed, and even influenced Congress from his position in the Congressional Research Service. As a scholar, he has studied and published several important books on the separation of powers. Now, for the first time, he not only summarizes the well-informed observations of a distinguished career but also analyzes the reasons for this congressional failure of will and advocates practical ways to redress the balance."
• "This book will engage students of the governmental process and help them not only to understand the issues at stake in balance-of-power questions but also to learn how to conduct civic discussion and reasoned argument. In the end, Fisher advocates both a return to constitutional principle on the part of lawmakers and, especially, the education of citizens who will insist that Congress protect those principles."--Jacket.

Series Statement

The Joseph V. Hughes, Jr., and Holly O. Hughes series in the presidency and leadership studies ; no. 7

Uniform Title

Joseph V. Hughes, Jr., and Holly O. Hughes series in the presidency and leadership studies ; no. 7.

Subject

• United States. Congress > Powers and duties
• Separation of powers > United States
• War and emergency powers > United States
• Executive power > United States
• United States > Appropriations and expenditures

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [209]-212) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The Framers' Design -- Lessons from Home -- Checks and Balances -- War and Spending Prerogatives -- Letters of Marque and Reprisal -- The Law of Nations -- Scholarly Consensus -- The Record from 1789 to 1945 -- Military Initiatives -- Early Court Decisions -- Unauthorized Presidential Actions -- Power of the Purse -- The President as Fiscal Guardian -- The Budget and Accounting Act -- Some Slippage in the 1930s -- The Mischief of Curtiss-Wright -- War Powers after World War II -- International and Regional Bodies -- United Nations Charter -- The NATO Treaty -- The Korean War -- Congressional Response -- The "Great Debate" in 1951 -- Judicial Checks -- The Academic Community -- Vietnam: A Wake-up Call -- Commitment to Southeast Asia -- The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution -- The National Commitments Resolution -- The War Powers Resolution -- Reagan's Initiatives -- Troops to Lebanon -- Invasion of Grenada -- Air Strikes against Libya -- Iran-Contra -- Members Turn to the Courts -- Military Operations by Bush and Clinton -- Invasion of Panama -- Bush Acts against Iraq -- Initiatives by Clinton -- Launching Missiles against Baghdad -- Combat Operations in Somalia -- Invasion of Haiti -- Commitment to Bosnia -- Air Strikes against the Serbs -- Ground Troops to Bosnia -- Funding the Bosnia Commitment -- War against Yugoslavia -- Afghanistan and the Sudan -- Continued Action against Iraq -- Legislative Leaders -- The Media -- Spending Powers after World War II -- Impoundment Battles -- Executive Claims -- Congress Retaliates-- Impoundment Control Act -- The Budget Act of 1974 -- The downside of acing comprehensively -- Reagan's 1981 initiatives -- Gramm-Rudman-Hollings -- Punting to the courts -- Spending caps -- Momentum builds for an item veto -- Inherent item veto -- GAO's Study -- Rescission reforms -- Line Item Veto Act -- Floor debate -- Clinton's item vetoes -- Punting to the courts -- Congressional pay -- Balanced budget amendment -- Term limits -- Constitutional Law 101 -- The war power -- President as "sole organ" -- The 200 precedents -- Stopping politics at the waters edge -- Speaking with one voice -- "535 Secretaries of State" -- "If we're in it, win it" -- Preserving credibility -- "Doing the right thing" -- Protecting the troops -- "We'll consult with congress" -- Word games -- The war powers resolution -- Behaving like a coequal branch -- Litigating war power issues -- The spending power -- Presidential largesse -- The price of centralization -- Reduced accountability -- Relying on committee controls -- Rediscovering institutional values.

ISBN

• 0890969515 (paper)
• 0890969507 (cloth)

LCCN

^^^00027191^

OCLC

• 43567428
• SCSB-10123201

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library