WASHINGTON—After passage of a bill to block President Trump’s use of a national emergency declaration to pay for a border wall, members of the House of Representatives voiced concerns Thursday about executive overreach, arguing that only Congress is allowed to misappropriate federal funds. “Throwing away millions of taxpayer dollars on vanity projects is Congress’s job, not the president’s,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi following the 245-to-182 vote to overturn Trump’s declaration, explaining that Article I of the Constitution clearly invests the legislative branch with the sole authority to mismanage public money. “Abusing the power of the purse is expressly reserved to the House and Senate. So it’s not up to the president to decide when we funnel money from one place to another, diverting it from its intended purpose. Burning through cash—whether we’re inflating the military budget or showering millions in unnecessary spending on our home districts—is an exclusively congressional task.” Pelosi concluded her remarks by praising the Founding Fathers for making the House, which is more directly representative of the people, the place where all bills for flushing money directly down the drain must originate.

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