4 ms·

Here’s hoping Congress wakes up and passes laws that curbs presidential power.

by gigatexal 1y ago

pissmeself 1y ago
[dead]
Terr_ 1y ago
That was my wishful hope in 2016, today I can't imagine it happening without a very different Congress.
- amanaplanacanal 1y ago
  Midterms are next year. Think about who you want in Congress and vote appropriately.
  - kelnos 1y ago
    That will only work if Democrats can obtain a veto-proof supermajority in both houses. Good luck with that. The problem right now is that the Executive Branch is refusing to carry out the existing will of Congress. Passing more bills (that will be vetoed) to tell the executive to do its job isn't all that helpful. At this point I think only the courts can save us, but I don't think we can rely on SCOTUS to do the right thing. And even if they did, they have no real teeth to force Trump to do anything. I carefully think we are better off with Democrats controlling both (or at least one) houses of Congress, but that won't magically fix things.
    - r00fus 1y ago
      You can at least remove the pursestrings from the executive by changing Congress from the rubber-stamp it currently is.
      - Terr_ 1y ago
        Maybe, but Trump is already violating plenty of Constitutional and statutory "pursestrings", and so far Republicans have been quite complicit in the process. Even with a reduced presence, they are likely to keep ~34 senate seats [0][1] which is enough to continue protecting him from justice. How would/should our system recover if a President commits all sorts of crimes with the support of 34 senators? (Bonus fun fact: The theoretical minimum popular support needed for 34 senators would be 3.6% of the population.)
        amanaplanacanal 1y ago
        Between the Epstein stuff and the economy, if it starts to look like Trump is going down Republicans in Congress will start bailing like rats leaving a sinking ship. They may be amoral, but they aren't stupid.
        Terr_ 1y ago
        Eventually, but the last 10 years are the story of me constantly overestimating them, so I think we should err on the side of pessimism. Heck, if would be very difficult to craft any factual account of political events these days that Me-of-2005 wouldn't dismiss as mad ramblings.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
jrmg 1y ago
There already are laws! They’re not being enforced (enforcement is an Executive Branch function...). The remedy for the Executive Branch breaking and/or not enforcing laws made by the Legislative Branch is supposed to be impeachment by congress.
- gigatexal 1y ago
  true and teh Supreme Court having been packed by trump admin #1 and an incompetent democratic leadership or rather Sith-lord 5D chess playing Mitch mcconell blocking appointments to the court ... isn't helping protect the rule of law much at all.
standardUser 1y ago
Congress has all the power they need, they simply refuse to use it.
leobg 1y ago
You’re welcome to move to the EU. Everything is a committee. Nobody is ever responsible. Nothing ever gets done.

Here’s hoping Congress wakes up and passes laws that curbs presidential power.

pissmeself 1y ago

[dead]

Terr_ 1y ago

That was my wishful hope in 2016, today I can't imagine it happening without a very different Congress.

amanaplanacanal 1y ago
Midterms are next year. Think about who you want in Congress and vote appropriately.
- kelnos 1y ago
  That will only work if Democrats can obtain a veto-proof supermajority in both houses. Good luck with that. The problem right now is that the Executive Branch is refusing to carry out the existing will of Congress. Passing more bills (that will be vetoed) to tell the executive to do its job isn't all that helpful. At this point I think only the courts can save us, but I don't think we can rely on SCOTUS to do the right thing. And even if they did, they have no real teeth to force Trump to do anything. I carefully think we are better off with Democrats controlling both (or at least one) houses of Congress, but that won't magically fix things.
  - r00fus 1y ago
    You can at least remove the pursestrings from the executive by changing Congress from the rubber-stamp it currently is.
    - Terr_ 1y ago
      Maybe, but Trump is already violating plenty of Constitutional and statutory "pursestrings", and so far Republicans have been quite complicit in the process. Even with a reduced presence, they are likely to keep ~34 senate seats [0][1] which is enough to continue protecting him from justice. How would/should our system recover if a President commits all sorts of crimes with the support of 34 senators? (Bonus fun fact: The theoretical minimum popular support needed for 34 senators would be 3.6% of the population.)
      - amanaplanacanal 1y ago
        Between the Epstein stuff and the economy, if it starts to look like Trump is going down Republicans in Congress will start bailing like rats leaving a sinking ship. They may be amoral, but they aren't stupid.
        Terr_ 1y ago
        Eventually, but the last 10 years are the story of me constantly overestimating them, so I think we should err on the side of pessimism. Heck, if would be very difficult to craft any factual account of political events these days that Me-of-2005 wouldn't dismiss as mad ramblings.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]

jrmg 1y ago

There already are laws! They’re not being enforced (enforcement is an Executive Branch function...). The remedy for the Executive Branch breaking and/or not enforcing laws made by the Legislative Branch is supposed to be impeachment by congress.

gigatexal 1y ago
true and teh Supreme Court having been packed by trump admin #1 and an incompetent democratic leadership or rather Sith-lord 5D chess playing Mitch mcconell blocking appointments to the court ... isn't helping protect the rule of law much at all.

standardUser 1y ago

Congress has all the power they need, they simply refuse to use it.

leobg 1y ago

You’re welcome to move to the EU. Everything is a committee. Nobody is ever responsible. Nothing ever gets done.