Thread by @protctdemocracy

At 10am the House Rules Cmte kicks off a hearing examining erosion of Congressional authority and the concentration of power on national security issues in the Executive Branch. Thank you @TomColeOK04 and @RepMcGovern for your bipartisan leadership on today’s hearing. #ArticleOne

Right now we have 33 ongoing “national emergencies” that give the president extraordinary powers. The president has the sole discretion to declare them and Congress is virtually powerless to stop them—Congress has never ended a national emergency declaration. #ArticleOne

The founders' constitutional checks on presidential war powers must be restored. The founders were deeply concerned about concentrating war powers in the presidency, warning it risked creating a king, who “often make war when their nations are to get nothing by it.” #ArticleOne

These are bipartisan issues. And Congress has the votes to show it. There are 19 Republicans on @SenMikeLee’s ARTICLE ONE Act in the Senate that would limit the President’s power over emergencies. And 6 Democrats voted for it in committee #ArticleOne

8 Republicans voted with all the Democrats for the @timkaine and @SenMikeLee resolution to limit the President’s ability to take us to war with Iran.

We’re working with 20 orgs across the spectrum to restore checks and balances on national security powers: “All Americans have a stake in the decisions to go to war, bypass ordinary laws through emergency declarations, or sell weapons to foreign regimes.” thehill.com/policy/defense…