President's responsibility isn't bill origination

Editor,

There is a very old saying that "A camel is simply a horse designed by a committee."

In my opinion, the bill passed by Congress on January 2 to keep the U.S. economy from going over the "fiscal cliff" was designed by just such a committee. The bill was crafted by the Senate and then passed by the House of Representatives after the House dodged its specific charge as stated in Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution to "originate all bills having to do with revenue."

Before retiring as an engineer, I often served on project management teams. The purpose was to create the best product possible. Teams included specialists from engineering, accounting, manufacturing, and marketing. Each group had its own specialty and contributed to the creation of products. The purpose during team meetings was to coordinate efforts and not to tell other specialists how to do their jobs. The responsibility of each team was clearly defined in writing. Accountants resisted the urge to tell the engineers how to design. Marketing members did not insist that accounting use "marketing numbers" to make the project appear more profitable.

Our founding fathers were wise as they crafted the U.S. Constitution. We find clearly defined roles for the president, Congress, and the court system.

I’m not a constitutional authority, but after reading and re-reading Sections 7 and 8 of Article 1 in our Constitution, it is clear the origination of revenue, budget, and tax bills are primarily the responsibility of Congress. The House and the Senate have separate balancing functions. It is not the responsibility of our president to originate bills and send them to Congress. If we blame the president we are simply misplacing the duty from those who do have the charter.

Over the next two months, Congress will have an opportunity to get it right before we go over the "fiscal fjord" (more tax and spending issues exacerbated by the need to raise the debt ceiling).

Until our Congress, more specifically the House of Representatives, gets its collective act together we will continue to get camels when we, the citizens, wanted horses.