Opinion: Congress must seize the opportunity to claw back its power

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Legislative branch has been complicit in its own diminishment for too long

The Biden administration issued its proposed $6 trillion budget on the Friday before Memorial Day, making it easy to overlook the details amid cookouts and travel.  

But the nitty-gritty details are worth our attention, and Congress needs to ensure that American taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately and efficiently. As it stands, Congress, and therefore the general public, does not have a big enough or clear enough window into exactly how funds are spent, and that needs to change.

There are two things to know about the presidential budget. First, every administration is legally required to produce one and send it to Congress. And second, each such budget proposal is almost immediately dead on arrival. The president’s budget is a messaging document designed to set the administration’s priorities; it rarely looks anything like what congressional leaders hammer out. Continue reading.