Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., warned that Congress risks surrendering its constitutional role as President Donald Trump enters his second year in office.
He said that unchecked loyalty has left lawmakers sidelined as the White House drives policy on trade, spending, and military action.
Bacon is not seeking reelection this year.
Ahead of the next midterm elections, questions are intensifying on Capitol Hill over whether Congress is willing or able to reclaim authority it has steadily ceded to the executive branch under Trump, even as lawmakers face rising voter anxiety over inflation, tariffs, and economic uncertainty.
Republican leaders control both chambers, yet oversight of the administration has been limited.
In Trump's first year back in office, the White House pushed forward with sweeping actions, including renaming the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, withholding congressionally approved funds, asserting broad tariff authority traditionally held by Congress, and authorizing military strikes off the coast of Venezuela without legislative approval.
Bacon, one of the few Republicans openly critical of the dynamic, said the president would benefit from more resistance from his own party.
"The president would be better off if the Republican House pushed back more," Bacon said, according to The New York Times. "I think his tariff policy would be better.
"I think it would be better on Ukraine. I think we could push him in a much better direction if he was open to it."
"But if you feel like you have a bunch of lackeys that are going to do whatever you say, then he doesn't feel constrained," he added.
The Nebraska lawmaker said the structure of Congress itself puts it at a disadvantage when confronting an aggressive executive branch.
"An activist president, they are going to have the advantage," Bacon said. "You have 435 members of Congress.
"We are not going to be nearly as fast as the president."
White House officials have maintained that Trump has acted within the law, arguing that voters elected him with a mandate to act decisively.
Still, critics in both parties say the administration has increasingly treated Congress as an afterthought.
Democrats have moved to block or delay spending bills in response to what they describe as unilateral executive actions, including the dismantling of a federal climate center in Boulder, Colorado, and vetoing a water project that had bipartisan support.
Some Republicans, meanwhile, have begun exploring procedural tools such as discharge petitions to bypass leadership and force votes on issues outside the White House's priorities.
With another government funding deadline approaching Jan. 30, appropriators are weighing whether to challenge Trump more directly, including a potential veto override that could test how far Congress is willing to go to reassert its role.
"If we end up rolling over for this kind of stuff," he said, "it is going to happen as one administration changes to the next."
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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