OPINION: Let’s resolve to strengthen Congress

The start of a new year is traditionally a time to reflect on past failures and make resolutions for doing better. Here’s a suggestion for members of Congress: They should resolve to start asserting their rightful role as a separate and coequal branch of government. Such a resolution will need to extend well past 2026. Congress has been giving up its authority for decades, and a healthy balance of power won’t return quickly. We’ve seen steady growth in the strength of the executive branch, and the trend has thrown our government out of alignment. When the U.S. attacked Venezuela and arrested its president and his wife on Jan. 3, it put a spotlight on the issue. President Donald Trump ordered the attack without consulting or even notifying Congress, challenging the Constitution’s clear requirement that only Congress can authorize war. America’s founders created separate branches of government for a reason: They understood that giving too much power to one person or group was an invitation to tyranny. They believed that “ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” as James Madison wrote. Of course, the world is different today than in 1787, when the Constitution was drafted. It’s more complex, and foreign affairs are more important. There are times when the president needs to act quickly. But Congress has too often deferred to presidential ambition, and the House and Senate often seem to be bogged down by dysfunction. As Paul Kane of the Washington Post reported, Congress set records in 2025, but not the kind you brag about. It set a modern record for the lowest legislative output, approving only about 40 bills that were signed into law. There was a 43-day government shutdown, the longest in history, because the House and Senate couldn’t agree on temporary funding legislation to keep government open. Many representatives and senators plan to step down in the next year, a clear sign of their frustration. We can attribute some of Congress’s weakness to Trump. He issued a remarkable 225 executive orders in the past year, often overstepping congressional authority. He closed or weakened federal agencies, canceled funding that Congress approved and imposed seemingly arbitrary tariffs. In a sense, though, Trump stepped into a vacuum that Congress created with its acquiescence. Congress needs to step up and fulfill its proper role. That starts with taking seriously the authority over taxes and spending that the Constitution gives it. For far too long, Congress has failed to follow an established, orderly process for approving budgets, relying instead on massive omnibus spending bills and continuing resolutions to postpone shutdowns. That needs to change. Congress must also exercise real oversight of the executive branch. It should monitor government spending, changes made to agencies, conflicts of interest and other issues. It’s true that oversight can devolve into grandstanding, but it’s essential to keep the administration in check. This may seem like a lot to ask, especially with Congress and the nation mired in what New York Times columnist Michelle Cottle has called “maximalist partisanship,” when “independence and ideological heterodoxy are treated as heresy.” But we’re seeing some hopeful signs, including lawmakers from both parties who work on, and take credit for, bipartisan legislation. Congress should resolve that 2026 is the year when it will reclaim the essential role in governing the nation that the founders envisioned. A vital and assertive legislative branch is necessary for our democratic system to work in the way it was intended.        

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Lee Hamilton, 94, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south-central Indiana.