Hillary Can't Rewrite the Constitution

Hillary Clinton's remark on the House Select Committee on Benghazi : "If I were President ... I would have done everything to shut it down." ~~~~~ Before going any farther in her goal to live in the White House, Mrs.CIinton needs a refresher course on the constitutional separation of powers, so she doesn't try to eliminate the legislative powers of Congress as Barack Obama has ceaselessly tried to do. ~~~~~ The US Constitution, Article I, Section V, clause 2, gives each House of Congress the right to create and enforce its "Rules and Proceedings." The first House of Representatives committee was appointed on April 2, 1789, by the First Congress to "prepare and report such standing rules and orders of proceeding" and the duties of a Sergeant-at-Arms to enforce those rules. It was a select committee assigned to prepare and report standing rules and orders for House proceedings. It lasted five days, dissolving after submitting its report to the full House. Since then, Congress has always relied on committees to doe its work. The second committee room upstairs in Congress Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is preserved. Visitors can see its rectangular wooden table and ten wooden chairs. Other House temporary committees were created, as needed, to review specific issues for the full House. The House relied primarily on the Committee of the Whole to handle the bulk of legislative issues. Because of the House's need for more detailed advice on certain issues, specific committees with broader authority were established. One of the first was a three-member committee on April 29, 1789, "to prepare and report an estimate of supplies...and of nett [sic] produce of the impost." The Committee on Ways and Means followed on July 24, 1789, during a debate on the creation of the Treasury Department, over concerns of giving the new department too much authority over revenue proposals. The House felt it would be better to establish a committee to handle the matter. The first Committee on Ways and Means had 11 members and existed for just two months. It became a standing committee in 1801, a position it still holds. The committee structure of Congress was codified and has been amended several times as part of the U.S. Code. ~~~~~ Because standing committees handle specific enumerated duties (rather than the general duties of Congress), their members develop specialized knowledge of the matters under their jurisdiction. Standing committees monitor governmental operations, identify issues for legislative review, gather and evaluate information, and recommend courses of action to either the House or Senate. In addition, House committees vote to bring bills onto the floor with a committee report. ~~~~~ A select or special committee is appointed to perform a special function that is beyond the authority or capacity of a standing committee. A select committee is usually created by a resolution of the whole House or Senate that outlines its duties and powers and the procedures for appointing members. Select and special committees are often investigative, rather than legislative, though some select and special committees have the authority to draft and report legislation. A select committee generally ceases to exist on completion of its designated duties, although they can be renewed. Several select committees are treated as standing committees by House and Senate rules, and continue from one session of Congress to the next. Examples of this are the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the House and the Select Committee on Intelligence in the Senate. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Hillary Clnton was referring to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, chaired by Trey Gowdy, that will interview her on October 22 to learn what she knows about the tragic attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. There is nothing a President can do to interfere with the constitutional power of Congress to create committees to carry out the people's business. Mrs. Clinton made her Benghazi bed, now she must lie in it by testifying under oath.