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During my 34-year career in multiple policy positions with the state of Indiana, I worked for or with seven different governors, over a dozen budget directors, and more state legislators than I could ever remember. I learned that elected officials will seek pleasure and avoid pain at all costs. The current spectacle of Republican members of Congress and President Donald Trump abdicating their constitutional responsibilities to Elon Musk fits that mold exactly.
If Trump and the Republicans in Congress want to eliminate or reduce approved appropriations passed by a previous Congress and signed into law by a previous president, there is a perfectly legal and constitutional way for them to do so. It is called recission.
It was not long ago that the public heard Republicans complain that Congress was not following normal and accepted procedure when it came to passing appropriations. So let them return to normal procedure.
Let Trump and Musk formally propose a package of spending reductions to Congress. Let Congress openly debate that package. And then force every member of Congress to take a stand and vote on that package.
That is the way that government in this country is supposed to work.
Bob Lain
Nobleboro
