Matt Spalding, a member of the Steamboat Institute’s Board of Directors, and Associate Vice-President and Dean of Educational Programs at Hillsdale College, recently testified before the House Budget Committee about Congress’ power of the purse – or lack thereof. His testimony is well worth a read for a taste of conservative wisdom on these matters.
Here’s his brilliant closing line:
The fundamental goal of budget reform should be budget control. Congress must hold the power of the purse not because it is necessarily better at exercising it than the president is – though it may well be – but because it has been given this particular power as a check on the executive. Even more important, Congress has an obligation to jealously maintain control of the nation’s purse because it is the guardian of the public treasure, and so the public good.
View the full testimony in the document below:
Matt Spalding: Budget Testimony 2016 by ErickaAndersenSylvester