[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 70 (Wednesday, May 16, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E814-E815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            A HISTORY OF THE EXPANSION OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER

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                          HON. WALTER B. JONES

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 16, 2012

  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following letter to the editor 
of the NY Times that was published on 24 April 2012. The letter was 
written by noted constitutional lawyer, Mr. Bruce Fein, Esq. It talks 
about the unchecked power the office of the President of United States 
has acquired since WW II.

               [From the New York Times, April 27, 2012]

            A History of the Expansion of Presidential Power

                            (By Bruce Fein)

       The unilateral actions of President Obama in the domestic 
     arena to circumvent Congress are more than matched by the 
     president's unilateralism in foreign affairs. Among other 
     things, President Obama has unilaterally commenced war, 
     authorized the assassination of American citizens abroad and 
     denied the writ of habeas corpus to detainees not accused of 
     a crime.
       Executive branch power at the expense of Congress and the 
     Constitution's checks and balances has mushroomed since World 
     War II. Examples include President Truman's undeclared war 
     against North Korea; President Eisenhower's executive 
     agreements to defend Spain; President Johnson's Gulf of 
     Tonkin Resolution regarding Vietnam;

[[Page E815]]

     President Nixon's secret bombing of Cambodia and assertions 
     of executive privilege; President Clinton's undeclared war 
     against Bosnia; and President Bush's countless presidential 
     signing statements, Terrorist Surveillance Program, 
     waterboarding and Iraq war.
       The Constitution gave Congress the power to declare war 
     because the president is inclined to aggrandize executive 
     power when faced with conflict or danger. As James Madison 
     wrote to Thomas Jefferson: ``The constitution supposes, what 
     the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the 
     Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and 
     most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested 
     the question of war in the Legislature.''
       The steady escalation of unchecked presidential power has 
     transformed the Republic whose glory was liberty into an 
     empire whose glory is perpetual war and domination.

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