President Trump has proposed buying Spirit Airlines with taxpayer money, installing a manager of his choosing to run it, waiting for oil prices to drop, and then selling it for a profit. That is not a government function. It is not a bailout. It is not an emergency measure. It is the President of the United States proposing to use public funds to speculate on a bankrupt airline's future value, pocket the profit when the bet pays off, and call it saving jobs.

The plan involves a reported $500 million commitment of taxpayer funds. No congressional vote has been taken. No authorization has been sought. No transparency has been offered about who Trump's chosen manager is, what their qualifications are, or what their relationship to the administration might be. Trump said he has somebody that wants to run it and do a good job. The American public is being asked to fund a half-billion dollar investment based on that.

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, has already called the bailout plan a terrible idea. He is right. And the fact that a prominent Republican senator is breaking with the president on this should signal to every member of Congress that this proposal deserves serious scrutiny rather than quiet acceptance.

The principle at stake is larger than Spirit Airlines. If the federal government can purchase a bankrupt private airline because the president wants to save it, hold it while market conditions improve, and resell it for profit, there is no limiting principle that prevents the same logic from being applied to any struggling private company the current or future president wants to acquire. Government ownership of private businesses is not a conservative principle. It is not a liberal principle. It is not an American principle. It is the kind of economic model that the United States has spent decades opposing abroad. The fact that it is being proposed by a Republican president does not make it less dangerous as a precedent.

Spirit Airlines has 18,000 employees who deserve job protection. That is a legitimate concern that deserves a serious response. Bankruptcy proceedings exist precisely to protect workers, creditors, and assets through structured processes that do not require the federal government to become an airline owner. If Spirit's workers need additional protection, Congress can legislate it. If Spirit's routes and assets serve communities that need budget air travel, regulators can address that through existing mechanisms. None of those solutions require half a billion dollars of public money to flow into a presidential investment scheme with no congressional oversight and no public accountability.

The Constitution vests the power of the purse in Congress. Not the Oval Office. Not a smart person chosen by the president to run an airline. Congress must assert that authority now, before a commitment is made, before contracts are signed, and before the American public is on the hook for a speculative bet on jet fuel prices.

Sign this petition to demand Congress block any taxpayer-funded purchase of or loan to Spirit Airlines without explicit congressional authorization, reject the precedent of government ownership of private businesses for speculative profit regardless of which party proposes it, and require full public transparency about any proposed management arrangement before a single dollar of public funds is committed.