Way back in February, in a post entitled "A Fourth Branch of Government?" I tried to call attention to the fact that the Vice President had declared his office to be part of a new, extra-constitutional fourth branch of government. The story hadn't yet been picked up by major media organizations, but given the fundamental constitutional questions that it raised, I figured it was only a matter of days before someone took notice and sounded the alarm.
Well, 4 months later someone finally noticed. Sadly, it took a congressional report for the media to start asking questions, but at this point I suppose I really shouldn't complain. Attention is attention, after all, no matter how delayed.
The story revolves around the need of the White House to comply with regulations designed to safeguard our nation's most classified secrets. The laws say the entire executive branch must follow a very specific set of procedures, but the Vice President has claimed that - and really, you just can't make this stuff up - because his office is not “an entity within the executive branch,” the rules do not apply to him.
After the report was released, a number of reporters at the White House began asking questions, leading to this bizarre exchange (more here) at one of this week's press briefings. Confirming my suspicion that many people in DC have never heard of "the Google," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino made a number of claims that were simply false, leading to this takedown from Keith Olbermann.
Fast forward to this morning. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel has decided to call Cheney's bluff. And he's doing it in a way that guarantees some brilliant political theatre:
Washington, D.C. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel issued the following statement regarding his amendment to cut funding for the Office of the Vice President from the bill that funds the executive branch. The legislation -- the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill -- will be considered on the floor of the House of Representatives next week."The Vice President has a choice to make. If he believes his legal case, his office has no business being funded as part of the executive branch. However, if he demands executive branch funding he cannot ignore executive branch rules. At the very least, the Vice President should be consistent. This amendment will ensure that the Vice President's funding is consistent with his legal arguments. I have worked closely with my colleagues on this amendment and will continue to pursue this measure in the coming days."
This really is quite simple. Either the United States is or is not a constitutional republic. If it is, then the constitution matters. If it is not, then we should all stop pretending and get on with the business of living under an autocracy. But this nonsense of making up your own extraconstitutional offices and doctrines needs to stop.
Remember when conservatives were the one who would yell and scream about adhering to the text of the constitution? Remember?
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