Overview
Leslie Belcher authored an article that appeared in The Hill, "Congress is Breaking the Appropriations Process." The article argues that using budget reconciliation to fund Homeland Security in response to Senate gridlock undermines the Constitution's long‑standing appropriations process, which is designed to ensure transparency, tradeoffs, and oversight of federal spending. It warns that bypassing regular appropriations to avoid the filibuster sets a dangerous precedent and urges instead a narrow filibuster exception for shutdown-related funding to preserve Congress’s core power of the purse.
