Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Editor’s Note: Trump's destruction of U.S. alliances and coddling of Moscow is alarming enough, but even more distressing is the apparent complacency of many powerful Republicans. This may be changing. Molly McKew of the New Media Frontier assesses legislation in the works that would constrain the president on NATO and Russia. If passed, it would mark a major step toward Congress reasserting itself as a foreign policy player.

Daniel Byman

***

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held an open hearing on "Authority to Order the Use of Nuclear Weapons." The hearing took place after the committee's business meeting at 10 a.m. EST on Nov. 14. The following witnesses testified:

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on "The Authorizations for the Use of Military Force: Administration Perspective" at 5 p.m. EDT, Monday, Oct. 30.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (read statement here) and Defense Secretary James Mattis testified.

Executive power is on the rise, a familiar argument runs, and necessarily at the expense of Congressional authority. Linda L. Fowler, professor emerita in government at Dartmouth College, examines another direction of this claim with respect to US foreign policy and national security - what she describes as the decline of Congressional oversight over foreign relations. The tilt in the balance of power toward the president, that is, is not simply the executive's enlargement of its sphere, but Congress's affirmative withdrawal in key matters of foreign policy oversight.