Naabik’iyátí’ votes to limit president’s future veto authority

Posted by Alysa Landry | Dec 23, 2015 | Politics |

WINDOW ROCK
All three branches of the Navajo Nation government are weighing in as the debate continues over verbiage in the 2009 measure that afforded the president line-item veto authority.

That measure, passed by referendum vote, gave the top executive officer power to veto “budget line items” in the comprehensive budget and supplemental appropriations, as passed by the Navajo Nation Council.

But President Russell Begaye claims that the authority, which the people granted to the president to “protect the government from wasteful spending and ensure government fiscal efficiency and responsibility,” also extends to “all aspects of the budget and not just the immediate appropriations.”

The majority of Council delegates, however, contend that the president’s authority is limited to “numeric appropriated dollar amount.”

Even Attorney General Ethel Branch has an opinion in the debate. In a statement, she described the 2009 referendum language as “ambiguous” and in need of amendment or clarification, but she also recommended that any changes go before the people for consideration.

The disagreement began in September when the Council approved the Nation’s comprehensive budget for fiscal year 2016. Begaye then vetoed six conditions of appropriations which, as defined by Navajo Nation Code, are “specific contingencies placed on appropriations by the Navajo Nation Council at the time the appropriation is made, creating legal conditions precedent to the expenditure of funds.”

Begaye’s action prompted Delegate Leonard Tsosie (Baca/Prewitt, Casamero Lake/Counselor/Littlewater/Ojo Encino/Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse Lake), to introduce an amendment in October seeking to clarify the president’s veto authority. That amendment passed and Begaye vetoed it, arguing that, “line-item veto authority was given to the president directly by the people (and) only the people can limit and clarify this authority.”