“Settling the Question: Did Bank Settlement Agreements Subvert Congressional Appropriations Powers?” : Hearing Before The United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, 114th Congress

Abstract

The Constitution provides: ―No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law . . . . This is not a mere technical provision but rather a fundamental element of constitutional structure. It sounds, first, in democracy, reflecting the deep constitutional principle that the power of the purse should be vested in the most representative branch. Every dollar appropriated from the Treasury may represent a dollar of taxes, and so this principle applies to both taxing and spending