Neal Katyal has twice suggested to defund the office of the Attorney General. How about now?

[Maraya1969]

At least we won't be so damn impotent! Remember the people in Nazi Germany thought Hitler was a fad and it would go away and right itself. It didn't.

Doing nothing is not an option now! Do something!


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/4/29/1845857/-Neal-Katyal-s-suggestion-in-March-applies-today-De-fund-AG-Barr-s-salary-and-the-AG-Office

(This was all about Barr hiding the Mueller report but as far as I can see it all is still feasible)


Update: Neal Katyal—again—called for the House to de-fund AG Barr’s salary and his office while he spoke with Stephanie Ruhle sitting in for Ari Melber on MSNBC. I hope eventually he expounds on this and what it would entail

In the wayback machine in March, AG Bill Barr obfuscated and lied about releasing the full Mueller Report, so Neal Katyal, ex-Solicitor General, Top Litigator award winner, expert in Constitutional law, winner of the Edmund Randolph Award (DOJ’s highest award), legal scholar, law professor, author of the Special Counsel law, said this extraordinary thing:
De-funding the Attorney General of the United States is a legitimate and respectable tool Congress could use to at least curtail lawlessness on the part of the Attorney General and his office? Yes.

Despite inevitable caterwauling and wailings of “Partisanship! Cheaters!” by the GOP, Congress should absolutely set these gears in motion while they still can and educate the American people as to why.

Congress must protect our democracy. De-fund the Attorney General and the AG Office until he complies with the Constitution and Congress.

[Mike 03]

1. This is exactly the kind of tactic I think many DUers have been hoping for.

I've always heard that the House holds the purse. They should use that power.

[triron]

2. Do it Democrats! No more pussy footing.

[Kid Berwyn]

3. It's what you do when the DoJ is obstructing justice.

Get the UNREDACTED Mueller Report.

Get the whistleblower complaint.

Get all the subpoenaed documents.

Then Congress can talk about DoJ getting its funding.

[lastlib]

21. I'd be for it!

It's the only language these thieves would understand.

[Mme. Defarge]

4. DO. IT.

PERIOD.

[struggle4progress]

5. No. It's way easier to slide down than to try the hard-scrabble back up

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. Trump would just steal the money from somewhere else.

His criminality has no bounds.

[pnwmom]

10. Yes --- like he has with the border wall. n/t

[KPN]

11. At some point, that too becomes an impeachable offense. In the past, Congress has determined that

impeachment isn't limited to criminal conduct per the 19 impeachments that Congress has conducted in its history.

[link:https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44260.pdf|

[Buckeyeblue]

7. Maybe the DOJ should not be in the executive branch

In most (all) states the AG is an elected position. Maybe presidents should appoint AGs to a 5 year term that requires approval from both the House and Senate. I realize that would require a constitutional amendment but I think it's an idea worth pursuing.

[Nasruddin]

17. Attorney General

The AG & the Justice Department are creations of congress, not the constitution.
See
https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=196
& page forward to section 35 - the last section.
I don't know the history of debate on this act, but as this is the last section
of a fairly detailed creation of a federal court system, it seems like an afterthought.

[Buckeyeblue]

22. Interesting. So it could be changed through Congress.

I think that should be looked at. As we are seeing, the current set up has little recourse to stop abuse.

[MurrayDelph]

8. During the Barr hearing about Mueller

I suggested that Congress should display a tote board, which should be called "The Defundotronic 2020."

Every time a member of the "Justice Department" fails to show up, fails to answer, stonewalls, conflates, or interferes where it shouldn't, the Defundotronic should be trotted out to announce another $100k from Barr's staffing budget.

[Maraya1969]

9. I like it.

[Pepsidog]

12. I agree just not sure how they go about it. Aren't departments funded by spending bills? So how does

Congress just defund.

[Nasruddin]

14. Seems like it would need a bill

and presidential approval

[Pepsidog]

18. Yes that's what I mean. A bill Dotard will never sign.

[dumbcat]

15. Don't be a Debbie Downer

Of course there is no way the Democrats in the House could defund the DoJ. Like, the Repubs in the Senate will just go along and the President will sign the Bill? Right?

But you don't have to spoil their little rants.

[Pepsidog]

19. Sorry to ruin the fun. Defund the F'ers, I with you.

[triron]

16. Then why did Neal Katyal say it? He should know what he is talking about.

[pnwmom]

20. He should have explained it, because it doesn't make sense. Trump can refuse to sign bills

and he can move funding around, like he has with the spending bill.

[lastlib]

23. Budgets originate with the House of Representatives.

So they write the next budget with no line items for the portions of the DOJ they don't want to fund. It passes the House, goes to the Senate, where it's voted down. Eventually they work out compromises to fund everything else, but House says no funds for DOJ until we get the docs and the testimony we want. In practice it could lead to a govt shutdown, but this is the theory....

[LiberalLovinLug]

13. Enough of the "bread and butter" bills passing only to sit in the Moscow Mitch's garbage bin

THERE ARE BIGGER FISH TO FRY!!!

DO SOMETHING!