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Curbing Congressional Power Abuse
Let the President do his job…
[J. F. Kelly, Jr.] 12/28/05

Much media attention has focused of late on George W. Bush’s alleged abuses of presidential powers. Of far greater concern to me are the continued attempts by Congress to usurp the authority and dilute the power of the Commander-in-chief in time of war. It is rather remarkable that all this muscle flexing by Congress comes at a time when only about one in five Americans thinks Congress is doing a good job.

The founding fathers wisely provided for three branches of government, creating a system of checks and balances. Congress is a deliberative body whose members represent the interests of their respective states in the enactment of laws, ratification of treaties, confirmation of certain appointees, funding of government and other duties under the Constitution. The executive branch is responsible for the day-to-day conduct of the nation’s foreign and domestic business including its defense and the safety of its people, unquestionably the most important responsibilities of all.

With such awesome responsibilities, come immense authority and wide discretion. Indeed, the president is acknowledged by most to be the most powerful individual on earth. He is, of course, not above the laws of the land but in matters of national security, his overriding concern must be the safety of the nation and its people.

These responsibilities demand the skills and competencies of an effective, decisive executive: sound judgment, access to the best intelligence available, a staff of the best and brightest advisors on duty 7/24 and above all, the ability to make decisions, including life or death choices, sometimes with little or no time available for extensive deliberation and with grave consequences hanging in the balance. Beyond the obvious leadership prerequisites, nothing can substitute for executive experience under pressure in preparing one for such responsibilities.

Members of congress, individually or as committees and sub-committees, are not really equipped or empowered to share this responsibility and authority. Moreover, no one elected them to do so. The president represents all the people, the 535 individual members of Congress only the people of the district or state that elected them, whose interests often have little in common with each other.

The executive branch can move swiftly and decisively if needed. The legislative branch is ill prepared to accomplish anything speedily. It is rather like comparing a team of horses with a herd of cats. Congress has responsibilities enough without taking on some of the president’s. In fact, Congress could work at little harder on doing a better job of what it’s supposed to be doing like getting vital legislation passed without encumbering it with shameful amounts of pork and spending less time turning confirmation hearings into attacks on the president and his nominees while denying them an up or down vote and discouraging qualified candidates from subjecting themselves to such indignities.

Recently, much of the energy of some members of the opposition party in Congress has been focused, not on the country’s problems but rather on their common enemy, George W. Bush. The latest example of this was the furor over renewing the Patriot Act and the tempest over the use of wiretapping by the NSA in investigating terrorism leads. Incredibly, some of the charges of presidential power abuse are coming from the same politicians and journalists who blamed the administration for failure to protect against the 9/11 attacks and for the failure of the intelligence community to warn of them.

Both houses of Congress passed amended versions of the Patriot Act containing over two dozen new civil liberty protections. But the final version fell hostage to 42 Democrats and four maverick Republicans in the Senate who refused to let renewal come to an up or down vote. The House then refused to accept the six-month extension finally agreed to by the Senate and instead the act was extended for five weeks to permit further discussion of its implications for civil liberties. Of course, Congress has had the four years since enactment of the Patriot Act to discuss these implications. How convenient, now, that they can be discussed anew, this time amidst the sound and fury generated by the wiretap disclosures. The latter “scandal” already has some Democrats breathlessly whispering impeachment because the president allegedly circumvented the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). But FISA, enacted during the Carter administration, was never intended to preclude a president from using his constitutional authority to carry out intelligence activities he deems necessary for the defense of the nation which is what the wiretaps are all about. Following the FISA procedures, which could take a day at least, just might not be fast enough to thwart an act of terrorism.

While I, like many Americans, have had issues with some of the president’s policies, I trust him far more than I do any or all of the 535 members of Congress to safeguard the security of my country and my family. My message to Congress, therefore, is to get out of the way and let the president do his job. If any of them feel they can do it better, then by all means they should run for president in 2008. -one-

copyright 2005 J. F. Kelly, Jr.

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