This week, the House Judiciary Committee will vote to launch a task force to examine the historic increase in presidential power and executive overreach, which is distorting the system of checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution.
Recent news stories have shined a spotlight on presidential power grabs. The Supreme Court has decided to hear a case challenging President Obama’s unilateral rewrite of our nation’s immigration laws. And a federal judge recently declared that Obama cannot assert executive privilege to prevent Congress from reviewing documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed firearms to “walk” across the U.S.-Mexico border into the hands of criminals.
Presidents going beyond their constitutional authority is nothing new, and it’s imperative that Congress fix this to restore our system of government. This week, the House Judiciary Committee will vote to launch a task force to examine the historic increase in presidential power and executive overreach, which is distorting the system of checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution.
The Constitution is clear: It is the role of Congress to make laws, the judiciary to interpret the laws, and the president to enforce the laws. This system was wisely set in place by the founders well over 200 years ago because they knew firsthand that the concentration of power was a threat to individual liberty and the rule of law. As James Madison eloquently wrote in Federalist No. 47: “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
In recent decades, however, presidents of both parties have aggrandized their power and usurped Congress to legislate from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. For example, Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush abused their prosecutorial discretion authority to provide executive legalization to tens of thousands of unlawful immigrants.
Executive overreach has accelerated at an alarming rate under the Obama administration. Obama has failed on numerous occasions to enforce acts of Congress that he disagrees with for policy reasons and has also stretched his authority to put in place policies Congress has refused to enact. He has delayed the Obamacare employer mandate unilaterally, essentially stopped the enforcement of our immigration laws, provided quasi-legal status to unlawful immigrants, and released terrorists from Guantanamo Bay without notifying Congress as required by law, just to name a few examples.
There are many reasons that this should be concerning to the American people. When a president fails to follow statutory mandates or prohibitions, he reverses the votes of the people’s duly elected representatives in Congress. And when the president unilaterally refuses to enforce parts of statutes he himself signed into law, he makes a mockery of our system of government and avoids accountability.
If this practice is allowed to continue, no longer would presidential candidates running for reelection have to stand on their records, because they could sign one bill into law, and enforce another version of it in practice, and thereby avoid responsibility for their actions at politically opportune times.
The Constitution affords Congress several remedies to counter the executive branch’s power plays, such as the power of the purse. However, the rapid acceleration of executive overreach warrants a deeper congressional review of this threat to the separation of powers and its checks and balances.
Just last year, a federal judge indicated the Obama administration had used federal funds that weren’t appropriated by Congress to fund Obamacare. When the president does that, the power of the purse wielded by Congress is empty and other remedies are needed.
The House Judiciary Committee’s specialized task force will study the growing problem of executive overreach and will also look for solutions to prevent the executive branch from continuing to exceed its constitutional authority. It will be part of the task force’s mission to study the impact the increase in presidential power has had on the ability of Congress to conduct oversight of the executive branch, the lack of transparency that furthers unchecked executive power, and the constitutional requirement of the president to faithfully execute the law.
Additionally, the task force will review the tools at the disposal of Congress to restore the proper balance of powers and hold the executive branch accountable. It will also make recommendations where there are deficiencies, including legislative solutions.
Preventing the executive branch from overstepping the boundaries of its constitutional authority is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is an American issue that touches the very core of the constitutional design of our government.
The separation of powers and its checks and balances are designed to protect individual liberty and we must ensure that it is preserved for future generations.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
