Congress’s purse is not optional
Congressional appropriations should mean something.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has been pushing for the Department of Health and Human Services to release $600 million that Congress appropriated for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Whatever one thinks of any individual foreign-assistance program, the larger constitutional issue should concern everyone: Congress writes spending laws, and the executive branch should not be able to treat duly appropriated funds as optional.
This matters beyond process. Gavi supports vaccination programs in lower-income countries, while organizations such as CEPI help prepare for outbreaks before they spread internationally. Those programs should be audited, measured and reformed when necessary. But the proper route is congressional oversight and legislation — not indefinite administrative withholding.
New Hampshire sends representatives to Washington to make decisions about federal spending. If agencies can simply decline to carry out those decisions, voters lose a meaningful part of their representation.
Foreign assistance is an especially easy target because many of its beneficiaries live so far away. That makes congressional stewardship more important, not less.
Sen. Shaheen is right to demand answers. Our delegation should defend both effective global health programs and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.