Pirate's Cove

Of course, by the time the suit makes it through the courts a goodly chunk of the money will have already been spent

Texas attorney general sues Biden admin, claims $1.7T budget was a ‘stunning violation of the Constitution’

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden and his administration for allegedly breaking the Constitution in order to swiftly pass a trillion dollar spending package.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, claims that Biden unlawfully signed the Democrats’ $1.7 trillion omnibus package into law in December because it was not legally passed in the House.

Only 201 members were present when the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 was voted on by the House of Representatives in December 2022, and with half the members absent, the required quorum was not met, Paxton’s lawsuit argues.

The Constitution requires that a quorum of members of the House of Representatives be present for the lower chamber of Congress to conduct any business, as stated in the lawsuit.

“Nowhere does the U.S. Constitution authorize the House to pass trillion-dollar bills when more than half the members are in their homes, vacationing, or are anywhere physically other than the United States Capitol Building,” said Attorney General Paxton in a press release.

“Our Founders would be turning over in their graves if they could see how former Speaker Nancy Pelosi used proxy voting to upend our constitutional system.”

While there were enough votes, with the final tally being 225-201, only 201 were actually present to physically vote. There must be a quorum present in the House. There wasn’t, hence, the bill was unconstitutionally passed. But, will it matter? Many courts ignore the text of the Constitution, and, by the time it would get to the Supreme Court the money would be gone. But, it might put Congress on notice that they need to follow the Constitution.