The Maryland senator says Congress has surrendered too much power to the president — and he knows what Democrats should do about it.
Page A2From§Eachthe sunrise edition — 29 September 2026
Congress owns power to end wars and cut funding; advocates sue and picket to use it for them.
As it ran on the front
The chief lays the job on the table Tuesday: Senator Chris Van Hollen goes on The Lever and says the plain thing out loud. Congress surrendered its own power to the president, and he can name the parts that would take it back — a war-powers review, control of appropriations, subpoena authority. Not new tools. Tools already bolted into the building, sitting in the drawer marked Article I.
The planner walks the shelf first, because that's the job: admire what's already there before you buy anything. War-powers review — on the shelf since the resolutions passed both chambers earlier this year. Subpoena authority — on the shelf, subpoenas printed, ink dry. Nothing here needs machining. It needs a hand.…
…(cont) So go back three weeks and watch what happens when nobody reaches for it. On September 2, with the Iran war still running, Jamal Abdi of the National Iranian American Council told Common Dreams that Congress needs to sue President Trump to make him obey the war-powers resolution his own chambers already passed. Read that sentence again: the tool is built, the vote is on the books, and the plan on the table is a lawsuit — asking a judge to do with a gavel what a subpoena and a funding line were built to do already.
The muscle would normally wreck the bad structure here. Instead the muscle's job this month is standing on a traffic circle. Public Citizen has a protest and press conference lined up for the morning of October 1 at Memorial Circle in Washington, aimed at the president's proposed 250-foot "Triumphal Arch." Representative Don Beyer is on the speaker list, alongside veterans, for that morning. Not a hearing room. Not an appropriations markup that zeroes out the line item.
The pilot flies the plan to where it lands: two outside crews, a lawyer and a crowd, doing errands for a Congress that already has the keys. Van Hollen's list isn't a wish. It's an inventory. The war-powers review, the appropriations gavel, the subpoena — present, accounted for, unused. Somebody in that building has to pick one up before October 1 arrives and it's still just a rally.
“Here's the con: they tell you Congress is powerless, like it's weather. It's not weather, it's a guy who owns a hammer and calls a locksmith instead. Van Hollen just said it on tape — the war-powers vote, the purse strings, the subpoenas — Congress has all of it, and instead a nonprofit's begging a judge and a congressman's showing up to a sidewalk with a sign. That's not helplessness, that's a choice, and it's your kid's arch money and somebody's kid's war either way.”
“Look, separation of powers is a two-way street, okay — the President has Article Two authority in these areas, that's just, that's settled law. Congress can hold all the hearings it wants, doesn't mean — wait, did I just say hearings are pointless? That's not what I meant. What I meant is timing. It's a timing issue. There's always a process.”
The receipts
While Americans are stressed about the economy and President Donald Trump's approval rating has hit a historic low, the second-term Republican is focused on vanity projects like his proposed 250-foot "Triumphal Arch," which opponents are trying to block. The watchdog group Public Citizen is planning a protest and press conference for the…
· 'We Are in a Constitutional Crisis': Congress Urged to Sue Trump to End Iran War from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.