CONGRESS: WE THE PEOPLE - "Constitutional Reform"

Program host Edwin Newman asks if anyone thinks there should be Constitutional Reform. U.S. Representative Dick Cheney (R-WY) says no, though he concedes internal reform with committees is necessary. Newman asks what Rep. Cheney would change; Cheney thinks consolidating power within the leadership and reducing the number of committees would be a more efficient way to run Congress. U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers (D-AR) says President Ronald Reagan has jumped into a void of power that Congress left open deliberately. Congress does this because it ducks the difficult issues by writing simple laws that are sent to be complicated with bureaucratic legalese which turns the originally simple law into some complicated and unpopular. In turning over issues to the bureaucrats, it is in effect handing power over to the President. Newman asks if the power of the purse really exists. Rep. Cheney believes it does, but it is not always applied with precision. The power of the purse does provide a level of oversight, although that power is sometimes kept ambiguous in legislation in order to accommodate compromises and flexibility.