House Bill: The Department of Peace Resolution (Failed)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I offer my thanks to the governor for his amendment, which adequately addresses the concerns I had raised with regard to the constitutionality of this legislation. I would suggest that the language of Section 1 be amended as follows, in order to codify this proposal as a resolution (i.e. a formal recommendation) as opposed to an ordinary law.

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[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I still don't like the idea of Congress establishing "executive offices." The whole point of the ConCon reforms in this area was to take that power away from the legislature and give it to the president; while technically the POA still has the final say on whether this becomes a thing (as result of his veto power), establishing this office as an Act of Congress rather than through an Executive Order prevents him from making unilateral changes to the structure of this office as may be necessary.

I get the feeling I'm talking to a brick wall here, but I would urge Congress not to establish a precedent of legislative meddling in the structure of the Executive Branch. A "resolution" is no better than a bill if it mandates the creation of a new office (which is what this does), and making the "Special Commissioner" independent of oversight by the officers of the cabinet is even worse. That the president may unilaterally create and disband executive offices is one of the great strengths of our Constitution; it allows administrations to rapidly adapt to meet changes in the structure and needs of the game and allows the president to quickly reorganize the cabinet to fit the priorities of their administration. That power will be far less useful if Congress gets into the business of creating new "executive" offices whenever it sees fit, and as someone who has been both president and a federal legislator, I find that prospect most unsatisfactory.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Where's the "we can't have suggestions" crowd?

What do you mean?

Whenever a bill suggests something, a player comes out to denounce suggestions in bills.

Right. Bills should never phrase their provisions in the form of suggestions, because they are bills (i.e. their purpose is to become binding law). A resolution, on the other hand, is definitionally a suggestion, and so ought be phrased as such. That is the distinction.