Education Department Is Threatening to Cut All Federal Funding for Maine Schools | Hacker News Reader

Education Department Is Threatening to Cut All Federal Funding for Maine Schools

nytimes.com

16 pointspmags23 comments

They need to get their bluff called. You have to stand up to this stuff.

If states can’t trust the federal government to disperse funds in a fair manner then the reason for being part of the union ceases to exist. Secession becomes a reasonable response.

Ya, it’s actually required to be fair, but the Supreme Court is totally in Trump’s pocket so it doesn’t really matter how illegal his behavior is. A constitutional convention is highly likely in the next few years (our first since the 70s).

Secession is a pipe dream. No one is going to defy the US to do business with the Republic of Maine. Bigger states like New York or California might be able to go it alone, but being part of a global superpower and having access to its infrastructure and economy isn't something you just give up.

The breakup of an empire is always a pipe dream until it occurs. The U.S. will not defy history and last forever. At some point it will fracture.

> If states can’t trust the federal government to disperse funds in a fair manner then the reason for being part of the union ceases to exist

That’s an interesting idea. States have a lot of control over their banks. Just…sanction the federal government. It will get overturned by the courts. But New York, California and other net-payer states withholding payments would create a leverageable mess.

> But New York, California and other net-payer states withholding payments would create a leverageable mess.

How do you withhold payments, exactly? Do you tell the citizens of Maine to send their federal tax money to the state capital?

> How do you withhold payments, exactly?

Have state bank regulators flag and freeze all payments to the Treasury for 30 days. (Ideally, during a window where your citizens won’t get hit with penalties, i.e. away from April or October 15 and away from the ends of calendar quarters.)

> state bank regulators flag and freeze all payments to the Treasury for 30 days.

It's crazy that we're even floating ideas like this.

But something like this might actually happen.

It doesn't make constitutional sense to me that congress passed laws to fund education ... but to be only dispersed if a later executive branch approves / doesn't have a personal gripe with them.

All these executive branch actions seem blatantly unconstitutional.

Only if they don't have a legal pretext for it.

For instance, if a state's schools had decided to reintroduce segregation, obviously cutting off funding for them would be defensible as pursuant to executing civil rights laws.

I’m not convinced cutting off all educational funding across a state is valid simply by executive branch decision… even if something unlawful occurs.

It would be under the "laws be faithfully executed" clause.

If one law can be used against another it's up to Congress to pass another law clarifying around that.

I don’t think that addresses the scale I’m referencing.

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