1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to defend Congressional powers that are being systematically undermined by the executive branch. Article One of the Constitution grants Congress specific authorities including making war, levying taxes, and regulating commerce. These powers are being circumvented in ways that threaten our system of checks and balances. President Trump has fired Senate-confirmed leaders of independent agencies including the National Labor Relations Board, Merit Systems Protection Board, and Federal Trade Commission. These positions were designed to operate independently between presidencies. He has also attempted to fire a Federal Reserve governor and opened a criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell over policy disagreements. As Yale professor emeritus David Mayhew stated, this assault on independent agencies represents "a violation of statute, norms, and in some cases the constitution." The president has refused to spend funds appropriated by Congress, ordered the dismantling of the congressionally-created Department of Education without clear legal authority, and ordered a raid to capture Venezuela's deposed president Nicolás Maduro without seeking Congressional approval or providing advance notice. He has cited emergency powers to impose tariffs, bypassing normal Congressional processes for regulating commerce. Molly Reynolds of the Brookings Institution described this as "a real escalation by the executive branch of its intrusion into things that are historically powers of Congress." Philip Wallach of the American Enterprise Institute noted that Trump "has very little respect for those norms, and that allows him to use some of these powers in entirely new ways." I urge you to mount a vigorous defense of Congressional authority. This requires working across party lines to reassert legislative powers through resolutions, legislation, and oversight. The recent passage of measures on Affordable Care Act tax credits and the Epstein Transparency Act demonstrate that bipartisan Congressional action is possible. Our constitutional system depends on Congress defending its institutional prerogatives regardless of which party controls the White House.