Jeb Throws Out Constitution; Threatens To Cut Congressional Pay If He’s President
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Jeb Bush says if he’s president he’ll cut Congress’s pay if they don’t act as he wishes.
Bush cast the Constitution’s model for separation of powers to the winds with a 15 second video centered around one proposal — “If Congress skips votes or hearings Jeb will cut their pay.”
Bush’s proposal to unilaterally cut lawmakers’ pay is unconstitutional. The 27th Amendment provides that “[n]o law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened,” so any law changing congressional pay would not take effect until after the next congressional election. More importantly, the Constitution provides that “Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law,” so Congress itself would have to acquiesce in Bush’s proposal for it to ever become law. “Jeb” does not have the power to “cut their pay” on his own, even if he is elected president.
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