Chairman Goodlatte Statement at Executive Overreach Task Force Hearing

Chairman Goodlatte: James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 47, the concentration of executive, legislative, and judicial power “in the same hands” is “the very definition of tyranny.”  Yet White House chief of staff Denis McDonough recently said “audacious” executive actions are being crafted to “make sure the steps we have taken are ones we can lock down and not be subjected to undoing through [Congress] or otherwise,” beyond even those unconstitutional actions the President has already taken. The Founders would have expected Members of the House of Representatives -- known as the “People’s House” for its most direct connection to the will of the people -- to aggressively guard their role in the constitutional legislative process.  This task force will do just that, in a manner that educates other Members and the public on the dangers -- to current and future generations -- of the ceding of power away from the People’s House, and Congress generally. In Federalist No. 57, Madison wrote “the House of Representatives is so constituted as to support in the members an habitual recollection of their dependence on the people.  Before the sentiments impressed on their minds by the mode of their elevation can be effaced by the exercise of power, they will be compelled to anticipate the moment when their power is to cease, when their exercise of it is to be reviewed.” Keeping legislative power, and in particular budgeting power, close to the will of the people was considered so important that the Constitution specifically provides that the House of Representatives has the exclusive authority to originate revenue bills. Indeed, regarding budget matters, when the first Congress in 1789 considered the law creating the Treasury Department in the executive branch, the bill as originally introduced authorized the Secretary of the Treasury “to devise and report plans for the improvement and management of the revenue.”  But it was feared that even giving the Secretary of the Treasury the modest power to “report plans” implied too much authority for the executive branch, and so the bill was amended to authorize the Secretary only to “prepare plans” regarding the management of revenue. The amended bill also specifically required the Secretary “to make report, and give information to either branch of the legislature, in person or in writing (as he may be required), respecting all matters referred to him by the Senate or House of Representatives, or which shall appertain to his office.” It thereby allowed Congress to request financial information directly from the Treasury Secretary, bypassing the President, and made clear that Congress, and not the president, was the ultimate authority on budget issues. But today, as our witnesses will elaborate, Congress exercises far less control over budget matters than was originally intended.  Whereas early Congresses specified exactly how much money would be spent for how long -- to build a lighthouse, or a post road, for example – many federal programs today, enacted by Congresses decades ago, are administered by the executive branch and funded on an auto-pilot basis, their allocations increasing automatically, by statute, without the need for any periodic review by Congress. The threat posed by the ceding of legislative power by Congress – to this generation and the future generations -- can often seem abstract in the midst of intense policy debates in an historically hyper-partisan environment.  As law professor David Bernstein has written, “The authors of the Constitution expected that Congress as a whole would be motivated to preserve its authority against presidential encroachment.  The Founders, however, did not anticipate the development of our two-party system.  At any given time around half the members of Congress belong to the same party as the president, and do not want to limit ‘their’ president’s authority.” Yet as then-Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Democrat John Conyers, said under the presidency of Republican George W. Bush, “I believe it is in all of our interests to work together to rein in any excesses of the executive branch, whether it is in Democratic, Republican, or even Libertarian hands.”  I agree with Ranking Member Conyers, and I look forward to hearing from all our witnesses today.

For more on today’s hearing, click here. Learn more about the Task Force here.