Lamar Alexander: Sebelius fundraising ‘arguably an even bigger issue’ than Iran-Contra
Sen. Lamar Alexander is ranking Republican on the Senate committee that oversees health policy. On Saturday, he compared Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sebelius’ fundraising for non-profits that support the health care law to the Iran-Contra Scandal. Since then, Sen. Alexander has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate her fundraising....

...Lamar Alexander: I’d like for her to stop. One issue is if she’s raising money from the people she regulates. But I’m more concerned about her using private funding and private organizations to do what Congress has refused to do. I and other members of congress are going to ask GAO to look into the extent she’s coordinating with Enroll America or other organizations.

The reason I used the analogy to Iran-Contra scandal is this administration’s persistent thumbing of its nose at Article 1 of the Constitution because that made it very clear that the purpose of creating Congress is to curb executive power....

...LA: If you read the report of the Iran-Contra select committee, it said that the executive cannot make an end run around Congress by raising money privately and spending it. That seems to be happening here. That was essentially the problem. There the money came from a different place, but if you look at my statement [the Iran-Contra report said] “a president whose appropriation requests were rejected by Congress could raise money from private sources or third countries for armies, military actions, arms systems, and even domestic programs.”

It’s the same kind of offense to the Constitution. It’s the same kind of thumbing your nose at Article 1....