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Student Debt & Climate Change: Tyranny by National Emergency

http://michaelosullivan.com/?p=394 William L. Kovacs

August 2022

Student Debt & Climate Change: Tyranny by National Emergency

The Biden administration is claiming Congress, by its enactment of national emergency statutes, has given the president the power to unilaterally control all aspects of life in America. A year ago, it locked down the country for Covid. In August, it forgave $600 billion of student debt. Next, it will regulate the entire economy in the name of climate change. Scary as these scenarios might be, Congress might have given the president these powers in its state of irrelevancy. If Congress does not revoke these emergency powers and reclaim its legislative authority, we are certain to live under tyranny. William L. Kovacs, The author

August 23, 2022, President Biden forgives $600 billion of student loan debt. His asserted authority is the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act (“HEROES”), which “authorizes” such power to address the financial harms caused by a national emergency. The continuing national emergency is COVID.

Biden is also contemplating the designation of climate change as a national emergency. If such a declaration is lawful, it would allow his administration to shut down the economy of the United States. Biden recently called climate change a “clear and present danger,” vowing to use unspecified executive powers to address it. The likely asserted authority will be the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”).

How can a president have such powers under our Constitution? There is a simple answer. Congress has granted many emergency powers to the Executive. And unfortunately, in a divided Congress, it cannot revoke them.

There are 126 laws passed by Congress authorizing the President to use so-called “national emergency powers.”  These laws allow U.S. Presidents to keep this nation in a perpetual national emergency. President Biden knows how to use these powers; Congress does not know how to reclaim them.

Since the start of his presidency, Biden has aggressively used emergency powers. He extended President Trump’s national emergency order indefinitely on the Covid pandemic. Relying upon emergency public health powers http://stephanepereira.com/categories/commercial/road-safety-friends/ , Biden mandated that 84 million Americans subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Act either obtain a Covid-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing. Biden also used the emergency powers to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium to stem the spread of Covid.

With little discussion, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the mandatory employee Covid testing and eviction moratorium orders. However,  the Court in West Virginia v. EPA (“WVA v. EPA”), an administrative law case involving climate change, issued a groundbreaking ruling that will likely determine the legality of future Executive overreach, including future declarations of national emergency. EPA attempted to regulate climate change using obscure and vague provisions of the Clean Air Act. The court held EPA “were [was] asserting highly consequential power beyond what Congress could reasonably be understood to have granted.”

The holding in WVA v. EPA will likely subject future emergency declarations to more intense scrutiny as to congressional intent. Such scrutiny is essential. Student debt cancellation is a perfect example of manipulating language. By isolating every word of the HEROES Act, e.g., “wave” or “modify,”  and separating the words from its legislative history and historical context, the Biden administration justifies its loan forgiveness declaration. Biden’s argument is simple – Covid placed students in a worse financial condition.

Designating some “happening” a national emergency allows the President to spend additional money and circumvent restrictions that might be imposed by law.

By designating “climate change” an  emergency, Biden could order “…sweeping actions to restrain greenhouse gas production – such as banning U.S. crude oil exports, ending offshore drilling or speeding the manufacturing of electric vehicles.” Such actions could decimate world energy supplies and, likely, our economy.

These congressionally delegated emergency powers are so broad and vague they allow a U.S. president to suspend the Constitution until Congress either cuts off funding or the Supreme Court strikes down the emergency declaration.

While Congress has only one law designated “National Emergencies,” NYU’s Brennan Center identifies 136 laws that allow the President to declare a national emergency. Ninety-six of these laws require nothing more than the signature of the President on an emergency proclamation. Fifteen emergency laws have restrictions such as involving a specific subject matter or the need for armed forces. Only thirteen of these emergency laws require a congressional declaration of emergency.

These 136 emergency laws are part of a massive legal framework that contains over 3000 separate criminal offenses in 50 titles of the U.S. Code and 23,000 pages of federal law. That was the last count in 1980. More troublesome, the National Emergencies Act “…does not define what constitutes a national emergency.”

Without a  definition, the statutory meaning of the term must be determined by the common meaning found in a dictionary. Merriam Webster defines a national emergency as “a state of emergency (an unforeseen circumstance needing immediate action) resulting from a danger or threat of danger to a nation from foreign or domestic sources and usually declared to be in existence by a governmental authority.” Such a subjective definition is determined through the eye of the beholder.

The troubling use of recent declarations is that they were invoked with scant factual findings to support the government’s actions. The public health emergency law referenced a waiver of a liability law for those assisting the federal government to address Covid, i.e., protecting the pharmaceutical companies.

The only requirement to implement an emergency power is the President must specify the provision in any of the 136 laws under which he will act. The provision cited does not need to relate to the actions he takes. On this point, the decision in WVA v. EPA may change the outcome if the court forces the President to stay within the powers of the statute relied upon when declaring the emergency.

Congress must find a mechanism to terminate these emergency laws when they have served their purpose. Without such a mechanism, the emergency can be continued merely by the President issuing a declaration for it to continue. One option for terminating an emergency power is for Congress to terminate it by joint resolution. Since the President must sign joint resolutions, Congress needs a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto. Without Congress being able to override a veto, these emergency powers are perpetual.

In addition to health emergencies, other powers available to the President include the ability to control airports, industrial facilities, and any device capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation, i.e., our communications system. The authority most used is IEEPA. It authorizes the President to invoke emergency powers relating to U.S. national security, foreign policy, or the economy, including financial and commercial transactions. The IEEPA has been invoked 55 times. Presidents can impose sanctions on individuals and countries, including freezing bank accounts and seizing assets. While the threat is required to be related to an activity in whole or part outside of the U.S., it is easy for a president to assert a foreign connection by claiming national security.

By enacting the National Emergencies Act and the 136 other statutes, Congress gives presidents the power to be a dictator at times of their choosing. There are only two practical ways to restrain a President’s use of emergency powers. The U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated a willingness to curb the administrative state. Still, the legal process takes many years, and the outcome depends on the political leanings of the court.

A more powerful approach is for Congress to function as an independent check on the Executive, as envisioned in our Constitution. Unfortunately, as long as the members of Congress who are of the same party as the President serve as a president’s lapdogs, Congress is mostly irrelevant.

The only remaining viable option would arise when different political parties control the House and Senate. In this situation, the House of Congress, controlled by the party in opposition to the President’s party, could refuse to appropriate funding for the President’s power grab. Without both Houses of Congress agreeing to appropriate money for the emergency, the President has no means of paying for his power grab. In the final analysis, starving the dictator may be the only solution to save the Republic.

 

William L. Kovacs has served as senior vice-president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, chief counsel to a congressional committee, and a partner in law D.C. law firms, and his book Reform the Kakistocracy is the winner of the 2021 Independent Press Award for Political/Social Change. His second book, The Left’s Little Red Book on Forming a New Green Republic, is a collection of quotes from the Left on how to control society by eliminating capitalism, people, and truth.

This article was first published in “The Thinking Conservative,”  August 2022

 

 

 

 

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  • Emergency Laws Destroy Democracy when Imposed Domestically

Emergency Laws Destroy Democracy when Imposed Domestically

William L. Kovacs

March 2022

Emergency Laws Destroy Democracy when Imposed Domestically

Citizens received an education in the last year on the destructive capacity of the government’s use of emergency laws to address Covid and the Southern Border Wall.  The government invoked these emergencies to drive its political agenda by enhancing its power. It is one thing when a government uses emergency powers against warring countries like Russia or Iran but quite another when applied to average citizens seeking to protest their government. Unfortunately, the “leaders” of governments are softer on dictators and terrorists than on citizens. The reason, those who lead governments worldwide share a common bond – protecting incumbent leaders, including depots, is more important than protecting citizens.

Russia’s vicious war crimes against Ukraine are being punished with sanctions, but there is a refusal by the U.S. and Europe to impose the financial death penalty – sanctions on all oil and banking to literally shut down Russia by isolating its assets and resources. Iran, a terrorist state is another example. The U.S., with Russia’s assistance, is negotiating cash for hostage trade, which would unfreeze $11 billion of Iranian assets. The U.S. goal is to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement in the hope that Iran will restrain its ability to develop nuclear weapons. Realists, however, assert the agreement allows Iran to build nuclear weapons and sell more oil to support more terrorism. These actions make no sense in that Russia and Iran seek to destroy the U.S.

Putting aside stupidity in the foreign policy arena, the question that needs to be addressed is why do emergency laws apply in domestic matters? Canada’s recent use of its Emergencies Act illustrates it is an economic and social death penalty for the citizens it is used against. Should civilized governments, yet alone democracies, set out, without due process, to socially and financially destroy its own citizens?

In the 21st century, governments know they do not have to beat people bloody in front of cameras to destroy their lives. The government needs only make laws so unjust and lacking in due process, that people cannot defend themselves.

During the truckers’ protest in Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau invoked the  1988 Emergencies Act, claiming the protest is an illegal blockade endangering public safety. The Act is to be used in situations that “seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians.” The types of situations it is to address include espionage, foreign influence activities, serious threats of political violence, or acts intended to undermine or overthrow a constitutionally established government. None of these situations apply to peaceful protests whose offense is blocking streets and making noise.

The Emergencies Act allows the government to force banks to freeze the social media accounts that collect money to support the protesters, freeze the bank accounts of the protesters, seize their [300] trucks, revoke their driver’s licenses, deny them insurance on their trucks, and of imprisoning them for years. It also authorizes the government to deny citizens the right to assemble and prohibit travel in certain areas of the country.  By cutting off the ability of truckers to make a living, Trudeau is executing their ability to live a normal life. Trudeau was the first prime minister in the thirty-four years since its enactment, to invoke the Emergencies Act. Trudeau finds peaceful resistance to be so extreme as to be a threat to the state.

In the U.S., our federal government does everything “bigger and better” than any other country. If at any time the president of the U.S. feels, thinks, or worries about an emergency, he has the power to declare it through an emergency proclamation. While the U.S. has only one law designated “National Emergencies,” NYU’s Brennan Center identifies 136 laws or other authorities that allow the president to establish a national emergency. Ninety-six of these laws require nothing more than the signature of the president on an emergency proclamation. Fifteen of these emergency laws have restrictions such as involving a specific subject matter or the need for armed forces. Only thirteen of these emergency laws require a congressional declaration of emergency.

These 136 emergency laws are part of a massive legal framework that contains over 3000 separate criminal offenses in 50 titles of the U.S. Code and 23,000 pages of federal law. That was the last count in 1980. More troublesome, the National Emergencies Act “…does not define what constitutes a national emergency.”

Without a legal definition, determining the statutory meaning of the term falls to the common meaning found in a dictionary. Merriam Webster defines a national emergency as “a state of emergency (an unforeseen circumstance needing immediate action) resulting from a danger or threat of danger to a nation from foreign or domestic sources and usually declared to be in existence by a governmental authority.” A very subjective definition.

Historically, emergency powers were limited to wartime. But today, non-war-time presidents want war powers to control citizens in a domestic setting. The Covid pandemic is the most recent use of emergency powers. Relying on emergency public health powers the federal government-imposed mask and vaccine requirements on the entire population of the nation while keeping the science supporting its proclamation secret. It locked up the entire nation for two years. Another recent example, on inauguration day, Joe Biden, without the involvement of Congress, terminated all authorities requiring the construction of the Southern border wall which was being built to keep drug cartels, sex traffickers, and criminals out of the U.S.

The troubling use of both proclamations is that they were invoked without any direct factual findings to support the actions of the government. The public health emergency law referenced a waiver of liability law for those assisting the federal government address Covid, i.e., protecting the pharmaceutical companies. As for revoking authority to construct the Southern border wall, president Biden proclaimed the wall “is not a serious policy solution.” So much for the rule of law.

The only requirement to implement emergency power is the president must specify the provision of law under which he will act. The provision cited does not need to relate to the actions taken.

The emergency law terminates on the anniversary of its declaration unless the President notifies Congress of its continuation. The other option for terminating an emergency is for Congress, by joint resolution to terminate it. Since joint resolutions must be signed by the president, Congress needs a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto. Otherwise, these emergency powers are continuously available to the president.

Recently, the U.S. Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution 38 which would terminate the Covid emergency declared by former President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020, and which has been extended multiple times by President Joe Biden. President Biden is threatening to veto the Joint Resolution, should the House of Representatives pass it. A presidential veto is likely to be sustained since the Democrats control the House. The president keeps his emergency powers to again shut down the nation, at his whim.

In addition to health emergencies and the Southern border wall, other powers available to the president include the ability to control airports, industrial facilities, and any device capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation, i.e., our communications system. The authority most used is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”). It authorizes the president to invoke emergency powers relating to U.S. national security, foreign policy, or the economy, including financial and commercial transactions. Sanctions can be imposed on individuals as well as countries, including the freezing of bank accounts and the seizure of assets. While there is a requirement that the threat be related to an activity in whole or part outside of the U.S., it is easy for a president to assert a foreign connection merely by accusation. The IEEPA has been invoked 55 times.

Literally, Congress through the enactment of the National Emergencies Act gives all presidents the power to be a dictator, at the time of their choosing. The only possible restraint is for Congress to remove such power, at least as it applies domestically. 3000 criminal laws should be sufficient for any government to keep the peace.

 

William L. Kovacs has served as senior vice-president for the US Chamber of Commerce, chief counsel to a congressional committee, and a partner in law DC law firms. His book Reform the Kakistocracy is the winner of the 2021 Independent Press Award for Political/Social Change. His second book, The Left’s Little Red Book on Forming a New Green Republic, quotes the Left on how it intends to control society by eliminating capitalism, people, and truth.