DavidASuper
@DavidASuper1
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Law prof, Georgetown; former CBPP, Community Legal Services, UFW; interested in law, legislation, the budget, and social justice, not necessarily in that order.
Joined August 2018
My latest: a partial catalogue of the laws the Trump Administration is breaking with its fiscal and regulatory actions. I will have another paper shortly on the (also) numerous laws it is breaking with its personnel actions.
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Very strange to see House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole say that appropriations act are not laws. That's exactly what they are. So when President Trump disregards duly enacted appropriations acts, he is literally acting lawlessly. It is not complicated.
Talked to a bunch of House Rs this AM in Doral about the WH move to freeze federal aid. Many are defending Trump — including the chairman of House Appropriations Committee, Tom Cole, who told me he doesn’t “have a problem” with the White House decision pause the aid. “I think that’s probably what you ought to do when you’re coming in as a new administration,” he said. When asked about the legality of the White House directing agencies not to spend money appropriated by Congress, Cole called it a “legitimate exercise of executive oversight” and noted that appropriations directed by Congress are “not a law.” “I’m not a lawyer, I can’t pontificate on what’s legal but I suspect what’s happening is what most Republicans would be supportive of,” he said. “Appropriations is not a law, it’s the directive of Congress.” “The lawyers disagree about what’s law and what’s not. Right know, I think it’s a legitimate exercise of executive oversight in areas they now control,” he added. A couple of Rs are less certain, including swing-district Reps. David Valadao and Rep. Don Bacon, who said he hopes it is just “temporary” bc otherwise things could “shut down” in his district. Ds say it’s a flagrant violation of the law.
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My latest on the wildly unlawful and spectacularly reckless funding freeze the Administration announced last night.
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Memo is hopelessly vague about what is and is not covered. Agencies must report to OMB by Feb 10, but nothing assures the countless grassroots charities and others potentially affected of clarity by any particular date.
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Which is it? How can you distance yourself from the crimes of your grandparents while attacking education programs seeking to help today's children do better - and then repeatedly give the grandparents' Nazi salute? Hard to ask others to separate you when you won't do it yourself
Elon Musk tells an AfD rally in Germany: "I think there is too much focus on past guilt (in Germany), and we need to move beyond that. Children should not feel guilty for the sins of their parents - their great grandparents even"
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My latest on Jimmy Carter's pivotal anti-poverty law legacy and why sadly he could not be elected president today.
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My latest on how the fiscal battles are likely to go next year.
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My latest on how partisan politics are likely to play out in the new Congress - and how these patterns have already begun this week.
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If Trump fails to stand by Ukraine, that will be on Trump. But Biden's short-sightedness on Ukraine, his cowering before imaginary ghosts of escalation, is an indelible blemish on his record. Neville Chamberlain lives.
Unpopular opinion 🚨 Whatever happens now to Ukraine, it is on Biden, not Trump Biden had a once in a century opportunity to strategically defeat US opponents He squandered 3 times the same opportunity: 1. In the fall of 2022, he refused to supply the Ukrainian army when...
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RT @JimmySecUK: I'm seeing a lot of people who never once spoke out about over a decade of chemical weapon attacks, barrel bombing, industr…
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Solidarity!
I thought this was a joke but it actually happened: Trump beat Harris among pretrial detainees in Chicago’s Cook County jail. It was a 96-point shift from 2020. A total blowout.
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Predictable result of showing weakness to a bully. Hard to imagine that Scholtz could be that naive, but apparently he is. If Germany wants to talk with Putin, a few Taurus strikes on Russian airbases would be an appropriate conversation-starter.
Putin’s response to Scholtz’s call came this morning, with a rain of drones and missiles on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. He took a diplomatic win and kept going. That’s why appeasement is doomed.
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Perfect solution: Treasury Secretary Sam Bankman-Fried. Adaptable, knows his way around international finance, skilled at selling ridiculous economic ideas, and after Trump pardons him he will be fervently loyal. I HOPE I am kidding. Would be far from the worst pick so far.
We're in a protracted standoff right now over who Trump will pick for treasury secretary. I think it sounds boring to a lot of people but it's an absolutely crucial moment 1) From all my reporting, my sense is that Trump is dead serious about enormous tariff hikes to rebalance global trade. So he wants someone who will actually implement those tariffs. 2) But all the evidence also suggests he really wants the support of Wall Street and STONKS to go up. So he wants someone the markets will respect But it's really hard to see how he gets BOTH of those, which I think is part of why picking the treasury secretary is proving so hard
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Absolutely right. Getting Members of Congress and reporters comfortable saying "Trump went too far on this one" early and often is crucial. Attacking wacky cabinet picks are a time-honored method of weakening overreacting new presidents. And few have been this wacky!
Trump needs to lose as many early fights as possible. It's fallacious to assume that Trump will pick someone worse. It's Trump: You think he's holding someone worse in reserve? Worse is his first choice.
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RT @franklinleonard: At some point, we need to have an honest conversation about the fact that when journalists say “working class” they al…
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@maria_drutska Hmm. You get a call from someone who has consistently telegraphed fear on all aspects of supporting Ukraine, after a disturbing U.S. election result, and just before he has to fight for renomination in an election where his party is likely crushed, and you surely think "strong".
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RT @LindseyBoylan: Unfortunately people who voted for him don’t care and the sooner people accept that the sooner we can fight back elector…
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Cogent, practical explanation of why Ukraine simply cannot accept a freeze of the conflict, as ill-informed people keep insisting. Also, if Russia's proven determination to destroy Ukraine makes war inevitable, now is the time to fight, with Russian equipment depleting fast.
Seems like it’s time for me to explain again, why Ukraine cannot simply freeze the war and call it peace: - Without a defense clause and troops on the ground from other countries, Ukraine will need a massive standing army to guard a frontline spanning over a thousand kilometers. - No deterrence against a new invasion will drive more people to leave as borders reopen, fearing a repeat attack. - Post-war elections in a democratic Ukraine will spark a political crisis if Zelensky is forced into a bad peace deal. - A nation in political turmoil, under constant Russian threat, won’t attract investments or recover its economy with high-interest loans. - It will embolden those who argue that yielding to Russian demands is the only way to avoid Ukraine’s fate, referring to a cheap oil and gas as justification. - An impoverished, crisis-ridden Ukraine will be no match for a partially recovering Russia, which can leverage eased sanctions and resource exports. - Aid at current levels won’t continue indefinitely, while Russia has more potential to recover than an aid-deprived Ukraine. In short, any deal that doesn’t deter Russia from a second invasion is a death sentence for Ukraine
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