Do Big Things
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Stop executive overreach: Congress takes its power back

Make emergency powers expire unless Congress votes to keep them, put tariffs back under Congress's control, protect the inspectors general who watch for waste and abuse, and stop any president from refusing to spend money Congress approved.

The Constitution puts Congress first for a reason. Congress writes the laws, sets taxes and decides how money is spent. Since January 2025, a president has taken more and more of that power for himself, and Congress has mostly let him. That executive overreach has to end, and the rules we write should bind every president who comes next, from either party.

End rule by emergency

As of October 2, 2026, 51 declared national emergencies were in effect.[1] Under the law as written, an emergency ends when the president ends it or Congress passes a law to end it, and the president can renew it every year with a notice.[2] He can also veto the law to end it. So the person using the emergency gets a veto over ending it. Flip it: an emergency should expire after a short window unless Congress votes to keep it going.

Tariffs are taxes, and taxes belong to Congress

In February 2026 the Supreme Court ruled that the emergency law the president used doesn't give him the power to impose tariffs.[3] The administration switched to other trade laws and kept going.[4] Congress has already voted against these tariffs with Republican help. In October 2025 the Senate voted to end the tariff emergencies on Brazil, Canada and the rest of the world, with five Republicans joining on Brazil.[5] In February 2026 the House voted 219 to 211 to end the one on Canada.[6] Make it permanent in law.

Protect the watchdogs

Inspectors general are the internal watchdogs who look for fraud and waste in each agency. Days after taking office in 2025, the president fired 17 of them. The law requires a president to tell Congress the reasons in writing at least 30 days before removing one.[7] A federal judge found: "President Trump violated the IGA. That much is obvious." She still didn't put them back.[8] A law with no penalty isn't a protection. Congress should give it one.

What is impoundment?

Impoundment is when a president refuses to spend money Congress has approved. When Congress passes a budget, the president has to spend the money. The government's own auditor, GAO, keeps finding that this administration didn't. On October 7, 2026 it concluded the EPA broke the Impoundment Control Act by withholding money from a program Congress funded.[9] In September GAO wrote that "the President may not force the expiration of budget authority Congress has already enacted and did not rescind."[10] Congress should give those findings consequences.

The objection: "This is just partisan revenge"

These are rules for every president. The Impoundment Control Act was passed in 1974, and GAO found a violation by this same president in his first term, over aid to Ukraine.[11] Republicans voted with Democrats to end the tariff emergencies.[5][6] And it isn't only Democrats who care. In an October 2026 Pew survey, 69% of voters backing Republican candidates said the future of democracy was very important to their vote.[12]

Sources

  1. Brennan Center for Justice, "Declared National Emergencies Under the National Emergencies Act," updated October 2, 2026. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/declared-national-emergencies-under-national-emergencies-act
  2. 50 U.S. Code § 1622 (Cornell Legal Information Institute). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1622
  3. Jones Day, "United States Supreme Court Invalidates IEEPA Tariffs," February 2026. https://www.jonesday.com/en/insights/2026/02/united-states-supreme-court-invalidates-ieepa-tariffs
  4. The Budget Lab at Yale, "State of U.S. Tariffs," August 24, 2026. https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/state-us-tariffs
  5. U.S. Senate, roll call votes, 119th Congress, 1st Session (votes 594, 598 and 600). https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_119_1.htm
  6. Anchorage Daily News (AP), "House votes to rescind Trump's tariffs on Canada in rare bipartisan rebuke," February 11, 2026. https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2026/02/11/house-votes-to-rescind-trumps-tariffs-on-canada-in-rare-bipartisan-rebuke/
  7. 5 U.S. Code § 403 (Cornell Legal Information Institute). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/403
  8. CBS News, "Judge says Trump violated law in firing inspectors general," September 24, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-government-watchdogs-inspector-generals-fired-by-trump
  9. U.S. Government Accountability Office, B-337485, October 7, 2026. https://www.gao.gov/products/b-337485
  10. U.S. Government Accountability Office, B-338788, September 29, 2026. https://www.gao.gov/products/b-338788
  11. U.S. Government Accountability Office, B-331564, January 16, 2020. https://www.gao.gov/products/b-331564
  12. Pew Research Center, "Economy Ranks as Top Issue in Midterms for All Voters," October 8, 2026. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/10/08/economy-ranks-as-top-issue-in-midterms-for-all-voters-but-partisans-differ-over-the-importance-of-other-issues/

Sign it.

After the election this letter, with every name on it, goes to each Democrat in Congress.

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