We've heard sabre rattling from the White House about "a war of extermination" with the incoming Democratic Congress. Now, outgoing Senate Judiciary Chair Arlen Specter has added this fire bomb:
Okay, the gloves are coming off. So what now?
That's fine. Congress can also cut off funding for White House operations. And, it can selectively withhold funding going to NSA and CIA private contractors involved in domestic surveillance and foreign torture, renditions, and interrogations. And, Congress can pass a law declassifying all domestic spying programs that aren't supported by FISA warrants.
The White House will deliver the files, if Congress seriously threatens to cut the purse strings. Simply put, the lights could go out at 1600 Penn Ave, if Congress was determined to do so.
I'll deal with the first proposition here. Cut the White House budget. The precise amount American taxpayers waste emptying Dimson's presidential seal embossed waste baskets is almost as closely held a secret as the budget for the CIA, because the Executive Office of the President (EOP) largely overlaps over federal agencies.
Nonetheless, salaries for the the White House staff are known to be way too high and seem to be the most vulnerable, and there are a number of offices whose annual funding Congress could take the knife too. The full roster of EOP Administrative units is as follows:
Office of the Chief of Staff (EOP, The White House Office)
Office of the Staff Secretary (EOP, The White House Office)
White House Counsel's Office (EOP, The White House Office)
Advance Office (EOP, The White House Office)
Office of Scheduling (EOP, The White House Office)
Oval Office Operations (EOP, The White House Office)
Office of Presidential Correspondence (EOP, The White House Office)
Office of Management and Administration (EOP, The White House Office)
White House Military Office (EOP, The White House Office)
Executive Residence Usher's Office (EOP, The White House Office)
Executive Clerk (EOP, The White House Office)
Office of the First Lady (EOP, The White House Office)
White House Curator (EOP, The White House Office)
The article explains it a bit further:
http://www.americanpresident.org/action/administration_whitehouse/Administration of the White House
Consulting Editor: John P. Burke, University of Vermont
SNIP
Precise estimates as to the size and budget of the EOP are difficult to come by. Many people who work on the staff are “detailed” from other federal departments and agencies, and budgetary expenses are often charged elsewhere (e.g. Defense Department for the White House Military Office). Ballpark estimates indicate some 2,000 to 2,500 persons serve in EOP staff positions with policy-making responsibilities, with a budget of $300 to $400 million (President George W. Bush's budget request for Fiscal Year 2005 was for $341 million in support of 1,850 personnel). According to Bradley H. Patterson Jr., who factors in only the most central EOP units but also includes such things as White House maintenance, official entertainment, and Secret Service protection, the numbers may even be higher: 5,915 in personnel and a budget of $730,500,000 for FY 2001.*
Although still a subunit of the EOP, the White House Office remains the centerpiece of the presidential staff system. In many ways it is closest to the President both in physical proximity (its top aides occupy most of the offices in the West Wing) and in its impact on the day-to-day operations, deliberations, policy agendas, and public communications of a presidency. During the transition to office and continuing throughout an administration, the President enjoys a great deal of discretion in terms of how the White House Office is organized. For example, Presidents must decide whether they will have a chief of staff, an office created under President Dwight D. Eisenhower but absent from the John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and, for a time, Jimmy Carter staff systems.
Presidents are free to determine what suboffices and functions will be represented in the staff structure. Most White Houses have some set of staffs handling national security, domestic, and economic policy, but their organizations can vary significantly. Most recent White Houses have offices that deal with the cabinet, congressional affairs, political affairs, intergovernmental affairs, and liaison with the public and a variety of constituency groups. There are usually large operations devoted to the media: a press office, a communications office, other media liaison, and the speechwriting staff. There are offices handling scheduling and preparations for when the President physically leaves the White House (the Advance Office). The President also has a personal staff. As well, there is a large White House personnel office that oversees presidential appointments throughout the government.
Yet nothing is set in stone. Some units may be combined and new positions may be created, such as Karl Rove's role as "senior adviser" to President George W. Bush.
Under the Constitution, Congress holds "the power of the purse", and that's a power it could weild if push comes to shove. The White House should be mindful of that constitutional perogative given exclusively to the legislative branch next time it talks about defiance of Congressional subpoenas.
The first provision in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides that
"the Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States."______________________________
2006. Mark G. Levey
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