A new Congressional agency, please

I want to frame this conversation with an important point that Matt brought up about the inherently different relationship to economic policy of the Executive and Legislative branches. He quotes LBJ: “The President is concerned with the economic well-being of the entire nation. Congress, by contrast, is the product of 50 states and 435 local constituencies, each representing only one piece of the national jigsaw puzzle.” This fundamental difference is a necessary component to our democracy as it creates a binary between the individual and the whole, giving voice to both. But the tension created when trying to reach a compromise can also threaten to tear apart a country – as we are seeing currently.

According to the Constitution, Congress must authorize all federal appropriations. This becomes increasingly difficult and complicated with economic globalization as more and more of our federal dollars go international – a phenomenon not predicted by our nation’s founders. While Congress has tried to account for this with Committees and Subcommittees on Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs, it is, by its very nature, unable to hold sway with the Executive stranglehold on the minutia of the non-domestic.

As Michael pointed out, “it is not the President alone who is responsible for these issues.” The Executive Branch includes many agencies and departments that deal directly with foreign governments and corporations on very intimate levels. These agencies and departments report to the President – not to Congress – who then generates a foreign policy AND a budget proposal based on this information. By the nature of their position, Congresspeople do not have this sort of intel, authority or ability to exercise international economic power because, ultimately, they have to report back to their state constituency.

With the Executive monopoly on foreign economic relations, Congress, as it should, chaffs at this increasing disparity in power. This is where I see the danger – when both branches are fighting to exert authority that has arisen with the globalization of the economy and to which the Constitution is silent. To regain some semblance of shared powers and balance, I would propose a Congressionally-appointed agency on foreign relations made up of non-Congresspeople that could serve the same purpose as the ones afforded to the President/Executive.