To stand up to President Obama’s increasing use of executive orders to bypass Congress on policy changes, and to reiterate that lawmaking is the job of the legislative branch, U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) introduced House Concurrent Resolution 63 last week.
After introducing the resolution, Jenkins, who represents Kansas’ Second Congressional District, released a statement to discuss her position on the issue.
“The Constitution gives Congress the right to make laws, and the ability to choose which laws to fund,” Jenkins said. “Yet President Obama, in his desperation to push his Washington-centric partisan agenda, is increasingly resorting to executive orders to dodge the Constitution. I introduced this resolution to send a clear message to this Administration they cannot bypass the elected representatives of the American people to pursue extreme ideologically driven policies.”
Per its specific language, the resolution seeks to “express the sense of the Congress that any executive order that infringes on the powers and duties of the Congress under Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, or that would require the expenditure of federal funds not specifically appropriated for the purpose of the executive order, is advisory only and has no force or effect unless enacted as law.” Jenkins also introduced a similar resolution during the 112th Congress.
“This country needs sensible, bottom-up solutions, and no president should be allowed to simply ignore the Constitution, no matter how inconvenient they find it,” Jenkins said.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) has represented Kansas Second District in the U.S. House since 2009. Born in Holton, Kansas, in 1963, Jenkins previously served as Kansas state treasurer from 2003 to 2008. Jenkins was educated at Kansas State University and Weber State College. Jenkins serves on the following committees: Committee on Financial Services and the Ways and Means Committee.