Latest Answers http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/latest/%2A/154/%2A/%2A a view of answers sorted by date en <p>Number one, they&rsquo;re bad enough that it&rsquo;s not worth wasting our time impeaching them and if we were to have impeached them we should have done it five years ago.&nbsp; To do it at the end of their term would be that we would get nothing else done and it wouldn&rsquo;t mean anything. We impeached them through these reports like in the intelligence community phase I; phase II.&nbsp; I mean everything that comes out, this morning&rsquo;s papers, the political appointment of lawyers in the justice department. I mean they are impeached, just not legally. But in American History they are impeached.</p> http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%2526lt%3Bp%2526gt%3Bnumber-one%2C-they%2526amp%3Brsquo%3Bre-bad-enough-it%2526amp%3Brsquo%3Bs-not-worth-wasting-our-time- Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:28:35 -0500 Robin Wright 1411 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org I used to be for six years the chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution, so it’s something that I take very seriously. Probably one particular area that Congress should always focus attention on is that the presidency, the executive branch, doesn’t overstep its bounds. The War Power Act is something that was passed some years ago to make sure that when a president is going to commit our troops militarily, overseas, that Congress has a role to play. It’s never actually been taken up to the Supreme Court but many have argued that presidents, whether it’s this one now or ones in the past, have overstepped their bounds and haven’t included Congress appropriately in decisions as to whether this country ought to go to war or not. Because it clearly says in our Constitution that it is Congress that is to declare war, and how does that apply in Iraq or Afghanistan? What I’m essentially saying is it is Congress’s responsibility to uphold its powers under the Constitution and one of those powers is whether we have a war or not, whether it’s declared or not. Most Congresses in the past really haven’t been willing to push that as far as it needs to go to get a determination, so it may very well need to go to the Supreme Court. REPORTER: One other part of this is signing statements. The expanded use of signing statements in some people’s view to get around the letter of the bills that Congress sends him and that he signs. Do you have a concern about them? CHABOT: I have a concern to the extent that if a president either this one or one in thefuture might abuse that technique than I think it is up to Congress to dispute this and take it to the courts and have a determination made. I have not really seen evidence that President Bush has abused the process, although there are some Members of Congress who would argue he has. And if they believe that there is a process for them to take that up. Thus far they haven’t really been able to go to the mat on that issue. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/i-used-be-six-years-chairman-subcommittee-constitution%2C-so-it%E2%80%99s-something-i-take-very-seriou Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:21:57 -0500 1154 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org Honesty is the best policy. I think we did spend too much. By cutting taxes we were raising revenue to the federal treasury and bringing down the deficit. In the last year, we did have a big budget showdown over increasing taxes and spending. Through the power of the veto out of the White House we were able to sustain these vetoes, and we were able to stop these enormous tax increases and spending. That was a victory. We had a bit of a wakeup call last election. We understood what our republican voters want from us. They want more fiscal discipline. They want us to stop the pork spending. Earmark reform is a big debate on the hill right now. We’ve taken the stand against tax increases and I think that’s an important fight to have. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/honesty-best-policy.-i-think-we-did-spend-too-much.-cutting-taxes-we-were-raising-revenue-fe Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:04:17 -0600 1101 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org Government should be efficient, should be effective and accountable to the people. The debt is the largest that we’ve ever had in our history, its over nine trillion dollars. We need rules like pay-go, pay as you go. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/government-should-be-efficient%2C-should-be-effective-and-accountable-people.-debt-largest-we%E2%80%99 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:53:11 -0600 1095 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org When I left Congress in 2001, we had a balanced budget. We were able to get it done. Let me be partisan on this. For a democrat to attack republicans on this. In the 1990s, every one of the democratic budgets spending more than the republicans were proposing and they were voting against the Republican bills because they weren’t spending enough.….Remember we had a shutdown with president Clinton…M:I think president Clinton would say he was on the other side of that. …Remember the government was shut down for his refusal to agree to balancing the budget …there was this thing called 9/11 so I’m not going to throw stones.. But we are under war and even those of us who are budget hawks say that the balanced budget amendment is waived during time of war. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/when-i-left-congress-2001%2C-we-had-balanced-budget.-we-were-able-get-it-done.-let-me-be-parti Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:35:57 -0600 1085 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org