Scott Tibbs
Congress should restrict, not expand, presidential authority
By Scott Tibbs, August 12, 2022
The United States Congress has often been described as the vestigial organ of American politics. The founders envisioned Congress as the most powerful of the three branches, but our elected representatives in both chambers have allowed the Executive Branch to overreach with little push back, and they have actively shirked their duty by passing vague legislation that allows the bureaucracy to write the details of the laws they pass via rules and regulations. This brings me to
Senator Elizabeth Warren:
Today would be a great day for President Biden to cancel student debt.
Of course, the President has absolutely no constitutional authority to do that. That authority resides with Congress, not the Executive branch. Putting aside whether forgiving student deby is a good idea, policy is passed by Congress, not by executive order. Senator Warren, a former professor at a prestigious law school, knows this. She is encouraging rebellion for political gain, and breaking her oath of office.
If Senator Warren feels that erasing student debt is a worthwhile policy, she is free to propose legislation to do that. She could work to convince her colleagues in both chambers to support this legislation. The problem, as Senator Warren sees it, is that they would then be forced to take a vote and be held accountable for the consequences of that vote. It is much easier to pass the buck to the President and pull in $174,000 per year and a generous federal benefits package to be a glorified pundit.
Of course, Senator Warren is far from the only guilty party. The Republicans are just as guilty, as they rushed to defend President Donald Trump unilaterally increasing import taxes. They did not take a vote. They allowed President Trump to pass a tax increase with no input from the legislative branch (which actually has the authority to pass a budget) on the extremely weak excuse of "national security."
This needs to stop. We need to demand that Congress take back its authority, and our next President should be someone who promises to act within his authority as the head of the executive branch. If we do not hold our elected officials accountable, then we are also responsible for the further deterioration of our system of government from a constitutional republic to an elected monarchy.
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