Workers World Vol. 25 No. 20
May 16 – There is no bourgeois parliament in the world which holds itself in greater esteem than does the U.S. Congress. Modestly, the legislators themselves refer to Congress as the greatest deliberative body in the world.
It is Congress which lays the laws down; Congress has the power of the purse. Congress is a co-equal branch of the capitalist government along with the executive and the judiciary.
Once Congress passes a law, if it is signed by the President and not invalidated by the Supreme Court, it is the law of the land. It covers everybody, we are told, including most conspicuously the President, who among other things has the chief responsibility for enforcing the law.
Reagan, we are told, is the law and order man of the decade. How does this stack up with the reality of his Central American policy?
In his infamous April 28 address to the joint session of Congress, Reagan stated, “Our purpose in conformity with American and international law is to prevent the flow of arms to El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.” (Our emphasis – S.M.)
In conformity with what law – what specific law either of the U.S. or of any international forum?
To prevent the flow of arms between two countries with which the U.S. is not at war is a violation of U.S. law. The U.S. is not and has not said legally or otherwise that it is at war with El Salvador or Honduras or Guatemala or Costa Rica.
There is not a shred of evidence to sustain Reagan’s contention that his unprovoked actions to prevent the flow of arms to El Salvador are sanctioned by any specific U.S. law.
Quite the contrary. The sustained effort to stop such a flow between any two or more countries with which the U.S. is not at war is an open, flagrant, and shameless violation not of some civil statute or a general character, but very specifically of the U.S. Criminal Code.
The Code says specifically that it is a criminal violation to provide or prepare any means for any military enterprise against a foreign country. This is spelled out in Title 18, Section 960 of the U.S. Criminal Code:
“Whoever, within the United States, knowingly begins or sets on foot or provides or prepares a means for or furnishes the money for or takes part in any military or naval expedition or enterprise to be carried on from thence against the territory or dominion of any foreign prince, or state, or any colony, district, or people with whom the United States is at peace, shall be fined not more than $3,000 or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.” (From U.S. Code, Annotated Crimes and Criminal Procedures.)
And Section 962 of the same Title 18 also carries a similar prohibition against armed aggression against people with whom the U.S. is not at war:
“Whoever, within the United States, furnishes, fits out, arms, or attempts to furnish, fit out, or arm any vessel, with intent that such vessel shall be employed in the service of any foreign prince, or state, or of any colony, district, or people, to cruise or commit hostilities against the subjects, citizens, or property of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district, or people with whom the United States is at peace; or whoever issues or delivers a commission within the United States for any vessel to the intent that she may be so employed – shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.” (Ibid.)
These sections are clear as crystal. They have been on the books and incorporated into the Criminal Code of the U.S.
Now, there are more than 400 congressmen and a hundred senators, plus all the staffs that they have. Almost all or at least 90 percent of them are lawyers. Washington among other things is a city of lawyers with dozens of private law firms who specialize particularly in such matters as international affairs.
These sections of the criminal law are well known and a violation by the President constitutes an impeachable offense, a criminal violation of the law, which Reagan is duty bound to enforce rather than breach.
Yet it is almost a month since Reagan in clear violation of the law announced “our purpose is to prevent the flow of arms to El Salvador...” The continuing “prevention” is a continuing violation of a specific law.
Why are the lawmakers so silent about it? Why haven’t they raised it?
The enormity of Reagan’s crime is at least equal in magnitude to that of Nixon, who faced impeachment and was driven from office for obstruction of justice with respect to the break-in and burglary at the Watergate.
Aside from other deeper political questions, Reagan’s violations here are far more serious. They involve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Central American workers and peasants who are dying not merely because they are prevented from having arms which other countries have a legal right to send, but because the U.S. is supplying funds and weapons which spell their death and destruction.
Senator Dodd (D-Conn.) in his reply on the same evening to Reagan’s talk failed to mention this criminal and outrageous violation for fear it would be going too far. Unless it is raised loudly and clearly, however, silence not only gives it legal sanction but politically lets the capitalist politicians, both Democratic and Republican, off the hook.
Moreover, it is especially pertinent to expose the contradiction between capitalist law and capitalist practice since monopoly capitalism is forever parading its much-vaunted democratic procedures as prime virtues compared to the socialist countries and revolutionary liberation movements.
It is even more important in this same connection to point out, particularly as it relates to Nicaragua and other Central American countries as well as to Angola, Ethiopia, Namibia, Libya, and a host of other countries, that the U.S. maintains deliberate covert operations. Most often these are thought to be in connection only with the USSR and China, but the recent evidence shows larger portions of the earth are covered by U.S. covert operations in addition to the open military expenditures.
Where this directly relates to Reagan in his criminal violation lies precisely in remind the American people that a covert operation is not only a violation of the general laws but of specific provisions of the U.S. Constitution itself.
Only Congress has the power of the purse. True enough. But the Constitution provides that any and all appropriations have to be not merely appropriated and passed upon by both houses of Congress but have to be publicly published. No provision whatever is made for a secret budget of any type.
Subsection 7 of Section IX of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution states: “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriates made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and the expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.” (Our emphasis – S.M.)
Here there is no ambiguity whatever. The purpose of this section of the Constitution was to make sure that not only was an itemized account made, but that it would be public and published.
No provision whatever is made for secrecy in the budget. Yet, the funds for covert operations are secret – never, never published. The funds are covered up and spread throughout all of the appropriations so that money for covert operations can be listed under dozens of other areas, including health and welfare, construction of bridges, dams, and rivers, or whatnot.
Violating this mandate is one of the most pernicious violations of genuine democratic procedures that a bourgeois parliament can countenance. Yet most lawmakers, especially those who have responsibilities with the appropriations committee, are aware of this and are in conspiracy with the administration. Together with the Pentagon and the CIA, they divide up the loot from the treasury – the hundreds of billions wrested from the sweat and blood of the workers and the oppressed people – and utilize it for destructive purposes, taking a huge toll in life and property the magnitude of which one can only conjecture.
Occasionally both Democratic and Republican capitalist politicians make a fuss about a particular, specific covert operation. But they never contest the overall mutilation of the Constitutional provision which bans secret appropriations. It’s only in cases where covert operations go just a little too far that some retrenchment is made. They never attack it on principle.
Such is the nature of this most august deliberative body.
Who knows about the financial extent of the covert operations? Most of the time it is only those who deal directly with the budget; and then mostly those connected with the biggest banks that have all the data. They make up the budget weeks and months before it ever gets to the legislators, who in any case can only pay the slightest attention in the first place. After all, it involves billions and billions that have to be passed upon quickly.
The truth is that the budgetary process goes on behind the backs of not only the people but most of the legislators. It is really decided by a small clique representing the financial and industrial dynasties who work closely with the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex.
How far this process goes on behind the backs of the people and also of the Congress was shown most vividly the other day when the Defense Department announced that it was setting up its own spy network, sort of a CIA of its own, in addition to the paramilitary activities of the CIA as it is presently constituted.
No one voiced a real objection. No one asked, “What about the funds? Who authorized this?” It vanished from the press as suddenly as it made its appearance.
Sure, there will be debate on Central America in Congress. Sure, more voices will speak out now and then. But it is only the intervention of the broad mass of the people, of the workers and the oppressed in united struggle against the predatory monopolist capitalist machine, which can bring any progressive change.
However, the exposure of the thoroughly rotten and corrupt anti-democratic practices to which a servile capitalist Congress closes its eyes and shuts its ears is a most necessary ingredient in the overall anti-capitalist struggle and a necessary element in the prosecution of the class struggle in general.
Last updated: 11 May 2026