Amici on the importance of NOT delegating the power of the purse to a 4th Branch of Gubmint (applies to the FHFA as well):
"The power
of the purse is one of Congress’s most potent checks
against the executive branch, ..."
George Mason (drafter of the Bill of Rights, in a little paper doc called the CONSTITUTION):
"“[t]he purse & the sword ought
never to get into the same hands”
“The legislature not only commands the purse but
prescribes the rules by which the duties and rights of
every citizen are to be regulated.” THE FEDERALIST
NO. 78 (A. Hamilton); see also King v. Burwell, 576
U.S. 473, 517 (2015)"
"This
“power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the
most complete and effectual weapon with which any
constitution can arm the immediate representatives
of the people.” THE FEDERALIST NO. 58 (J. Madison);
see also 1 THE RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION
OF 1787, at 139–40 (M. Farrand ed. 1937) "
"The Constitution accordingly imposed strict
requirements to ensure that Congress retained
accountability and control over actions that would
affect the federal fisc. See, e.g., U.S. Const. art. I, § 7,
cl. 1 (Origination Clause); id. § 8, cl. 1 (Taxing and
Spending Clauses); id. § 8, cl. 2 (Borrowing Clause);
id. § 8, cl. 5 (Coinage Clause); id. § 9, cl. 4 (Direct
Taxation Clause); id. § 9, cl. 7 (Appropriations and
Statement-and-Account Clause). These limitations
“assure that public funds will be spent according to the letter of the difficult judgments reached by
Congress as to the common good and not according to
the individual favor of Government agents.” OPM v.
Richmond, 496 U.S. 414, 428 (1990).
"That view makes significant
national financial decisions dependent on “the
individual favor of Government agents”....which would risk a serious
executive encroachment on Congress’s Article I power
of the purse. OPM, 496 U.S. at 428.
