Ryan Young: Point
Pare back presidential power
President Donald Trump is poised to address a joint session of Congress on March 4, the first-year equivalent of the annual State of the Union address. Whatever one thinks of this administration’s policies and many executive orders, the presidency has grown too powerful, and reformers from every political party should work to pare it back.
If America’s Founders had one overriding principle, it is this: Don’t put too much power in one place. As we approach 2026 and America’s semi-quincentennial (quarter millennial), celebrating 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it’s an apt time to realize the center of power has long since moved away from the states and toward Washington, to the detriment of us all. And within Washington, power has increasingly centralized in the president at the expense of Congress and the judiciary.
For his part, Trump has already usurped Congress’s power of the purse to impose trade tariffs, and he has floated the idea of creating a sovereign wealth fund without Congress. He can cite a precedent as recent as President Joe Biden’s attempt to spend $400 billion on student loans without congressional involvement. When courts blocked Biden, he continued the same policy, in smaller chunks.
Before that, President Barack Obama infamously pledged to use his pen and phone when Congress threatened to block his policies. Before that, President George W. Bush started two wars without congressional approval, one more than his father. Going back even further, President Woodrow Wilson jailed political opponents during World War I in violation of court orders.
Trump’s annual speech itself is arguably an indicator of burgeoning presidential power. Thomas Jefferson transmitted his State of the Union addresses to Congress in written form, partly because he felt that appearing in person before Congress looked too much like a king pressuring the legislature. Jefferson’s tradition of respecting congressional independence continued for more than a century until Woodrow Wilson, whose grand views of presidential power mirror Trump’s, began giving in-person speeches annually.
The separation of powers is one of the most essential principles in American government. Yet, there are also political and economic reasons to oppose unilateral presidential policymaking. One is the yo-yo effect. While it is easy to enact sweeping policy changes via executive order, it is just as easy for the next president to overturn them. The result is policy whiplash every time there is a change in power, on issues ranging from environmental policy to labor regulations. This instability discourages investment and slows innovation and growth.
For example, many of Trump’s first-term executive orders on regulation were overturned by Biden on his first day in office. Now, some of those same orders are back in effect, and the odds are the next Democratic president will overturn them again.
Tariffs provide another example. The Constitution gives all taxing powers to Congress and none to the president. In the 1960s and 1970s, Congress delegated its tariff-making powers to the president for expediency reasons. Trump has used these powers to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods, often announced on social media with little to no notice and certainly with no congressional input.
Congress hasn’t raised tariffs since the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs that worsened the Great Depression — and for good reason. Trump’s 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs, for example, created 1,000 jobs in those industries but cost 75,000 jobs in steel- and aluminum-using industries ranging from autos to beverages.
Trump’s speech to Congress will inspire and provoke. There should be one thing everyone can agree on: the presidency has grown too powerful.
Congress rightly has sole legislative and spending power, not the president. To restore constitutional government, Congress must either codify Trump’s executive orders in legislation or repeal them outright, on a case-by-case basis. And the courts must stop unconstitutional behavior from Congress and the president while upholding policies that are constitutional.
The state of our union is that America is in good shape. However, our Founding institutions are undergoing another stress test. It is up to Congress, the courts and to each of us to see that it passes.
Ryan Young is a senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Ben Olinsky: Counterpoint
The carnage has begun
One month since inauguration day, we’re already getting a taste of what President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are delivering — and even for folks who voted for Trump, it may not be the change they expected.
Medicaid will be raided to fund tax cuts for billionaires, 19-year-old DOGE kids have access to our most sensitive information and are slashing programs we rely on, and egg prices are still going up. While many Americans clearly desire a more secure border, they probably didn’t expect Trump to pursue immigration raids in their own churches and schools.
So, as the president prepares to address the nation, we need to look past his rhetoric and ask tough questions about where he’s taking us.
Change is overdue. It’s been a shared failure of elected officials over decades that many pressing issues have been left unaddressed, either because they wouldn’t listen or because Congress was dysfunctional. Too much deference was given to norms and “the way we’ve always done things.” It’s no surprise that the change Trump promised was alluring.
But before we cheer on the sledgehammer, let’s understand what’s at stake.
Our government and its dedicated career civil servants do a lot of heavy lifting to make our daily lives safer. Still, it’s often behind the scenes and taken for granted. For instance, when a plane tragically collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport, it was the first deadly commercial plane crash in 25 years. The number of workers killed or injured on the job has decreased dramatically. And while we continue to see occasional food-borne illness outbreaks or the rare instances of tainted eye drops, robust monitoring and recalls keep us safe.
From the outside, the government can seem massive and opaque, and when someone says they’re going to take a wrecking ball to it in the name of efficiency, it might sound like a good deal. Less taxes, right?
In business, Trump and Musk are used to moving fast and breaking things. You can take big risks in Silicon Valley and in real estate: Trump’s companies have filed for bankruptcy at least six times, and Twitter/X is worth almost 80 percent less than when Musk purchased it.
With the government, the stakes are your family’s health and safety. In recent days, we’ve seen massive government layoffs affecting people who oversee our nuclear arsenal, protect us from bird flu, and produce air traffic navigation maps. When the government makes a mistake by firing the wrong people or cutting the wrong programs, people can die in plane crashes or at their jobs.
When the government isn’t on the beat, faceless corporations can dump toxic waste into our water with impunity or cut corners in manufacturing food or drugs that then make us sick. When the government is too focused on firing FBI agents and looking for “internal enemies,” the real external ones will see an opening and attack.
As Trump addresses the nation, we’ve come to a fork in the road. Should we allow congressional Republicans to gut Medicaid — hurting 72 million Americans across red and blue states — to give themselves and their billionaire donors like Musk even more? Should we bring a wrecking ball to the scientists, air traffic controllers and other experts who keep us safe?
Should we allow billionaires to mine our data and payment systems, looking for competitive advantages to benefit their businesses? Should we allow our president to run roughshod over the Constitution, leaving our fundamental rights at risk?
When the president speaks, whether you align with MAGA or want to live your life free from politics, it’s your obligation to ask questions about his plans. And don’t believe everything you’re told. Trump recently told Fox News that “Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched,” then the very next day endorsed a budget that would almost certainly cut billions from Medicaid.
While you may not have been in his crosshairs when he targeted immigrants or diversity programs, your rights and benefits may be next on the chopping block.
Yes, we need to make our government more responsive to its citizens. Yes, we need to address Americans’ legitimate concerns about fentanyl and the border.
However, Trump and MAGA Republicans are making a grave mistake by conducting a hostile takeover of our government and stripping it for parts. Sometimes, with a bargain-basement deal, you get precisely what you pay for.
Ben Olinsky is the senior vice president for Structural Reform and Governance at the Center for American Progress. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
