For the full articles, follow the links embedded in the headlines;
Curb bureaucratic slush funds (official Examiner editorial, May 19):
Congress, by right, raises federal revenue and appropriates the dollars for spending. The executive branch, by overreach, inertia, and congressional inaction, has been taking over this role by creating slush funds that sit outside of congressional control.
It’s time to end this. The Senate ought to quickly consider and pass a bill introduced by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to ensure that Congress, not bureaucrats, decide how public fines and fees are spent by the federal government….
S. Ct. conservatives pass up key religious-liberty case (May 13 column by Quin):
By refusing on May 13 to hear the appeal in a crucial religious discrimination case, the Supreme Court again refutes the idea that a clear conservative majority now rules the constitutional roost. The court’s abdication in Tree of Life Christian Schools v. City of Upper Arlington is an unfortunate, baffling defeat not just for conservatives but for the free exercise of religion in general….
Graham should not advise Trump Jr. to ‘take the Fifth’ (May 14 column by Quin):
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., may rue the day he sided with Donald Trump Jr. against a valid subpoena by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Graham’s advice that Trump Jr. refuse to testify was way out of line in principle, and could prove harmful to his own committee’s work in practice.
Graham at first said that Trump Jr. should refuse even to appear before the Intelligence Committee. At least he later amended his advice. Now he says he meant the presidential son should comply technically with the subpoena by showing up at an Intelligence Committee hearing, but then refuse to answer any question by pleading the Fifth Amendment. The original statement was worse, indeed awful, but even the modified advice is wrongheaded….
Politicized unions are smaller, weaker unions (May 17 column by Quin):
Anyone who wants to understand why unions are losing membership and public sympathy need only look at the 2018-19 internal budget of the AFL-CIO. It lists more than $40 million in planned spending for “political, electoral and issue mobilization,” which is more than eight times as much as the $5 million allocated for actual union organizing. Union members probably do not approve, and when word of this budget gets out, neither may the general public. …
