Don't be a hypocrite

How we reverse the neutering of Congress and the slide toward authoritarianism

Regardless of how hopeful or hopeless one feels, the dread many of us feel when we read the news these days isn’t abstract.

In the span of 230 days, Congress has been pushed off the field on spending, oversight, and war-making — the very Article I levers in the Constitution that empower Congress to make a republic feel safe for people who disagree with the president.

Last week, Pentagon officials barred the Senate Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat from a routine oversight visit to a military spy agency. U.S. forces began a campaign off Venezuela with no congressional authorization or notice to key lawmakers. The White House moved to cancel nearly $5 billion in already-appropriated foreign aid by skirting a vote, and senior officials accelerated post-confirmation purges — including at the CDC — weeks after senators vouched for them. This is not how things normally operate… the lights are flashing on our nation’s dashboard.

Zoom out and the pattern is even starker. Intelligence-community oversight is being chilled, from access denials to dismantling and shrinking offices Congress created to monitor harmful foreign influence and safeguard elections. Meanwhile, GOP leaders voice procedural concern BUT then decline to act, even as a few Republicans warn that clawing back appropriated funds “undermines” Congress’s constitutional purse. If you’ve wondered whether separation of powers is a living thing or a museum piece, we’re well on our way to the wrong answer.

“Remember this feeling” is a governing principle

It’s easy to notice these issues at times when you find the policies and politics alarming, threatening, dangerous. But it can be harder when we find ourselves in agreement with a President’s policy goals, yet Congress is standing in the way. For example, many who now balk at President Trump’s seizure of Congressional powers cheered when President Biden announced his sweeping student-loan cancellation program (something that was long delayed because Biden himself did not believe he had authority to do it). The Supreme Court blocked that effort and ruled the unilateral action unlawful and beyond presidential authority. That ruling, Biden v. Nebraska, is a pretty straightforward reminder that noble ends don’t conjure statutory authority. If you win by shortcut today, you invite a bigger shortcut —one you may not deem noble — tomorrow.

Likewise, when the first Trump Administration withheld Ukraine security aid for policy reasons in 2019, the Government Accountability Office said plainly: the Impoundment Control Act doesn’t permit that. Congress writes the checks; presidents don’t get to un-write them. That precedent matters right now as the current White House toys with new versions of the same move.

On war powers, Congress’s muscles have atrophied for decades across both parties. Most often, presidents initiate first and dare legislators to catch up, aided by elastic legal theories and aging Authorizations for the Use of Force passed years ago for unrelated actions. That’s how you end up with “limited” strikes morphing into open-ended commitments — without the votes that make policy durable.

And the stakes climbed again in 2024. In Trump v. United States, the Court recognized absolute criminal immunity for core official acts and presumptive immunity for other official acts. You may agree or disagree with the doctrine, but one consequence is obvious: more of the checking must happen in Congress, in the open, and in real time.

A short note to MAGA leaders and voters

You may be celebrating today’s consolidations. Just be honest with yourselves about the bargain: precedents don’t come with party locks. The next progressive populist could well wield the same tools to block oversight you would want, wage undeclared operations you oppose, and “reprogram” funds you fought to win. That reckoning will arrive. But this column isn’t written for you.

This one is for the coalition that’s alarmed — and serious

If you oppose what you’re seeing, the answer isn’t ambient despair or hoping courts annul the worst of it while we cheer for the rest. The answer is to put steel back in Article I and narrow the lanes for unilateralism — no matter who sits in the Oval Office.

Here’s the actionable playbook:

• Emergency powers with real brakes. Flip the presumption in the National Emergencies Act: declarations should expire automatically after 30 days unless Congress affirmatively renews them under fast-track procedures. That’s the core of the bipartisan ARTICLE ONE approach — reform that can pass if we demand it.

• Re-arm the power of the purse. Tighten Impoundment Control Act enforcement so policy-driven withholdings trigger automatic, guaranteed floor votes. It may make it harder for a president you support to act unilaterally, but it will do the same for one who frightens you.

• Shine Light on the Executive Branch’s Legal Theories. Publish final Office of Legal Counsel opinions, with narrow redactions, so claimed authorities are visible to Congress and the public. Several proposals already exist (e.g., the OLC SUNLIGHT Act). It’s time to back them.

The challenge for each of us is not to be a hypocrite

If an action would scare you in the other party’s hands, treat it as dangerous in your own. That’s not naïveté — that’s how you keep wins legit and losses reversible.

And let’s remember to reward backbone. Praise leaders who defend Article I even when it costs a short-term policy win. That’s how you signal to future administrations — red or blue—that the legislature still has a pulse.

We didn’t get here all at once. Presidents of both parties probed the edges. But what we’re seeing now is a qualitative jump: oversight blocked in real time, unilateral force without authorization, spending end-runs, and congressional leaders largely looking away. If we want a republic that feels safe when the president isn’t our choice, we have to rebuild the habits that make it safe. Start with Congress, and then keep going until we’ve made the shortcuts not worth taking.