House of Representatives Quotes

Congress has a constitutional right to an authoritative voice in declaring and proscribing the foreign policy of the United States ... and it is the constitutional duty of the President to respect that policy ...

Any President must depend upon congressional support in order to implement his foreign policy, for Congress has power to regulate foreign commerce, to raise armies and maintain navies, to lay and collect taxes for the common defense, and to declare war.

As members of Congress, we may disagree with the administration's position on foreign policy matters, but the fact remains: the Executive Branch is tasked with handling diplomatic matters.

Foreign policy is always a sticking point between Congress and the executive.

I should not dream of asking the permission of Congress That treaty is the law of the land and I shall execute it. It is essential to give independence to the Executive in dealing with foreign powers. I am willing to accept responsibility to establish precedents which successors may follow.

The Constitution provided an invitation to the President and Congress to struggle for the privilege of directing American foreign policy.

Nor is there any doubt that the Senate and President possess the power of making treaties.

Congress no longer declares war or makes budgets. So that's the end of the constitution as a working machine.

We only have one president and one secretary of state, but our founding fathers very clearly insisted that Congress play a significant role in foreign policy.

If the president is failing to disclose material facts with regard to legislation being presented to the Congress on a question as important as war and peace, I think it does impair the level of trust that the House and the Senate have for this administration.

The President alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. He makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude; and Congress itself is powerless to invade it.

Congressmen take an independent oath to protect and defend the Constitution. They work with the President; they do not work for the President.

The imperial Presidency requires a passive Congress.

You run Washington DC though the House. The Senate gets in the way. The President gets in the way.

Politically it is often much safer [for Congress] to let the executive do the leading.

Congress cannot—nor should it—run foreign policy on a day-to-day basis. That is a truism.

Federal bureaucracies are creatures of Congress, not the executive.

Without the authority of Congress, the President cannot fire a hostile gun in any case except to repel the attacks of the enemy.

Congress has chosen to recognize that a president may be forced to pursue legitimate foreign policy objectives by covert means. Such recognition, however, does not mean it surrenders the right to be informed of covert measures so that it can express its views as to the legitimacy of the goals or the wisdom of seeking to achieve them.

Congress cannot and should not run foreign policy.

Those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper and safe judges of whether a war ought to be commenced, continued or concluded.

The power to make war is vested in Congress and not in the President. Congress has no constitutional authority to grant such authority to the president.

The Framers intended the Senate to be the principle architect of foreign policy. Had original intent prevailed, we would speak of the imperial Senate, not the imperial Presidency.

The powers conferred by the Constitution upon the Executive enable him to shape the foreign policy of this nation almost independent of the Legislature. A scheming and unscrupulous President can involve the country in serious complications, commit it to an unwise policy, or at least render its foreign diplomacy ridiculous before Congress may have an opportunity to check him.

It is up to Congress to see to it that its powers do not slip through its fingers