Les Aspin Quotes

Legislative power is always superior to the executive.

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

The imperial Presidency requires a passive Congress.

Federal bureaucracies are creatures of Congress, not the executive.

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

[Congress is] the chief aggrandizer of the Executive.

The biggest downside [for the President] of having the other party control a branch of the Congress is its ability to use investigations and subpoenas as anvils.

The powers relating to impeachment are an essential check in the hands of the body of the legislature against and upon the encroachments of the executive.

If I could only be President and Congress too, for just 10 minutes.

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

For 22 years [as a Senator] I worried about all the power at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Now [as Treasury Secretary] I worry about all the power at the opposite end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

I am not responsible to the Senate and will not submit my actions to them.

The most important benefit that I can confer on the country by my Presidency is to insist upon the entire independence of the executive and legislative branches of government

Congress ... is far more than the simple, limited advisory council that most Presidents would like to maintain.

If our forefathers had wanted Congress to be the Commander in Chief, they would have said so.

The authority of Congress must be respected …. The President must confine himself to his executive duties—to obey and execute, not make the laws.

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 ...

Congress has a lot of powers which people, especially those in the executive branch, don't like to talk about.

The independence of the legislative arm must be respected. I had little taste for forcing Congressional action.

Congress has a constitutional right to an authoritative voice in declaring and prescribing the foreign policy of the United States. It is the constitutional duty of the Executive Department to respect that policy, not less in diplomatic negotiations than in the use of national force when authorized by law.

The tyranny of the legislature is really the danger most to be feared.... The tyranny of the executive power will come in its turn, but at a more distant period.

I am well aware of what three past presidents have said, but that will not be worth five cents if the people and the Congress do not support their president now.”

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

We have not found a way to give Congress control without depriving the President of essential power.

From time to time we must remind ourselves that the President has a role in the legislative process.