SC Lawmakers Push GOP Congress To Keep Its Promises

GARY SIMRILL, TOM DAVIS INTRODUCE “ARTICLE ONE” BILLS AT S.C. STATE HOUSE

A pair of high-profile GOP lawmakers in the S.C. General Assembly are sponsoring legislation aimed at holding the “Republican-controlled” United States Congress accountable to voters.  Specifically, they are pushing state legislation which would instruct the Palmetto State’s seven-person U.S. congressional delegation to co-sponsor and support the Article One movement – an effort that seeks to restore congressional authority in the face of executive overreach by the administration of Barack Obama.

We’ve written about Article One before … praising its leader, U.S. Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, for tying to inject some sanity into the spending process in Washington, D.C. (we even ran a column from Buck here).

That’s the job of the Congress, isn’t it?  To appropriate money?

Yes …

Why does it keep surrendering that authority to Obama?

The state legislation – sponsored by S.C. Rep. Gary Simrill and State Senator Tom Davis – asserts that “it is the proper duty of the Congress to control the power of the purse in order to bring the executive branch in line with its proper role.”

Simrill and Davis go on to say that Obama and other executive branch officers “have unilaterally expanded their power at the expense of the other branches of government,” and that these expanded powers “are threatening basic freedoms that belong to all citizens.”

Accordingly, Simrill and Davis want the Palmetto State’s congressional delegation – consisting of U.S. Reps. Jim Clyburn, Jeff Duncan, Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney, Tom Rice, Mark Sanford and Joe Wilson – to “co-sponsor and support” Buck’s latest legislation aimed at reining in executive overreach.

That bill – which you can read here – contains numerous provisions House “Republicans” should have included in the budget they passed last year.  Among them?  Defunding Obama’s radical neighborhood engineering effort.

Basically, it does what Congress is supposed to be doing (but isn’t). Exercising the power of the purse.

Duncan has already signed on as a co-sponsor to Buck’s legislation – and our hope is Simrill and Davis’ bills will encourage other delegation members to do the same.

Simrill is a majority whip in the S.C. House.  Beyond this leadership post, he is also a member of the chamber’s influential ways and means committee – which gets first crack at the state budget each year.  Davis?  He’s emerged as the leading pro-freedom, pro-free market member of the S.C. General Assembly.

The two make a formidable combination, in other words … and we suspect their advocacy on behalf of this bill will send a strong message to members of the delegation who are sitting on the fence regarding the Article One effort.

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