Stop the president from circumventing the will of Congress

GUEST COLUMNISTS
By John C. Danforth and Tom Coleman
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In the many years we both represented Missouri in Washington, D.C., there were few votes of such consequence as to call into question the strength of our Constitution. The upcoming votes to repeal President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency rise to that rare level of import.

While we share President Trump’s concern for border security, we cannot abide by tactics that undermine the Congress, which our Constitution bestows with the sole “power of the purse.” The matter before the Congress today is not simply a question of whether and how much to fund a wall. It is a question of whether we can allow a president — any president — to circumvent the will of Congress. If the president disagrees with the bipartisan decision of the Congress, he has the power to veto the funding bill, and send it back to the Congress for further deliberation. However, by declaring a national emergency, he is taking a shortcut that creates a precedent that will haunt us for years to come.

This week we both joined two dozen fellow former Republican lawmakers calling on our colleagues in Washington to preserve our system of checks and balances and repeal that declaration. Our reasoning is straightforward: If we are silent when a president unilaterally exerts executive power to achieve a policy goal — even if we were to agree with him on substance — we are opening the door for future presidents, with whom we may strongly disagree, to do the same.

As our open letter reads:

“As Republican members of Congress, each of us started with one central understanding of our party’s overarching commitment: to honor our pledge to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. After each election, when our constituents granted us the privilege to again represent them in Congress, we renewed that pledge. It has always been a Republican fundamental principle that no matter how strong our policy preferences, no matter how deep our loyalties to presidents or party leaders, in order to remain a constitutional republic we must act within the borders of the Constitution. Our oath is to put the country and its Constitution above everything, including party politics or loyalty to a president.

“We who have signed this letter are no longer members of Congress but that oath still burns within us. That is why we are coming together to urge those of you who are now charged with upholding the authority of the first branch of government to resist efforts to surrender those powers to a president. …

“There is no way around this difficulty: what powers are ceded to a president whose policies you support may also be used by presidents whose policies you abhor.

“Like us, you have taken an oath of office. You were elected to Congress to carry out the constitutional duties and responsibilities of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. You were sent to Congress to be the voice of the people. That is an awesome burden and it may require you to exercise restraint to protect the constitutional model — that which is the root of American exceptionalism — and to keep it from being sacrificed on the altar of expediency.

“We who have served where you serve now call on you to honor your oath of office and to protect the Constitution and the responsibilities it vested in Congress. We ask that you pass a joint resolution terminating the emergency declared by the president on Feb. 15, 2019.”

We call on the Missouri delegation to honor Republican principles and repeal the ill-advised emergency declaration.

John C. Danforth was a Republican U.S. senator from Missouri from 1976 to 1995. Tom Coleman was a Republican U.S. representative from Missouri from 1976 to 1993.

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Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/26/19

Related: Open Letter to Republican Members of Congress

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh