Days before President Trump signed executive actions Saturday to defer payroll taxes and resume enhanced unemployment benefits, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) warned he was on the wrong side of the constitution: “The power of the purse begins in the House.”That, of course, is what we’re taught in high school civics. But lately, it doesn’t reflect reality. Presidents of both parties have been siphoning power from Congress for decades, and Mr. Trump has been especially aggressive in the fiscal sphere. Indeed, the erosion...

Source: Wall Street Journal August 12, 2020 13:03 UTC