Impeachment: Congressional Responsibly or Joke

Oversight, power of the purse, advise and consent; these are the constitutional responsibilities of Congress in foreign relations of the country. At least they were at some point in U.S. history. Today political polarization has crippled the legislative body of the U.S. government. Every decision left to Congress has sputtered into pointless partisan bickering and finger pointing. Congress can barely keep the government open. The 2018-2019 shut down lasted over a month and it will probably happen again. We can toss blame at Trump all we want, and it is well deserved. The president said he wanted a shutdown and he got one. This simply is another casualty of the executive presidency. Congress has punted its responsibility for the last fifty years to the president. Why should anything change now?

Well, it turns out last week Congress decided it might change its attitude. The House formally voted to begin an impeachment inquiry into Trump's phone call with the Ukrainian president. Finally, Congress took an interest in foreign affairs. Too bad it was on a strictly partisan basis. Congress's inaction on foreign policy has granted the president a high degree of independent action. The U.S. regularly acts internationally without any Congressional resolution or declaration. The Congress has not even ratified beneficial trade agreements such as the USMCA, nearly a carbon copy of NAFTA.

Now the House has decided to exert its authority over foreign affairs by impeaching the president. I do not think this is the best way for Congress to reassert its authority over foreign affairs. If Trump did commit impeachable offensives, is impeachment the best option? Americans do not pay attention to foreign affairs. The phone call is easier to understand for evidence than Russian collusion. But this is no Watergate; it’s not even phonegate yet. At this point this is another partisan political act. Broad support for the president to go? Nope. Unless major evidence of extra bad things emerges, nothing is going to happen. A party line vote in the Senate is the most that will come out of this. Where does that leave Congress? More divided and partisan than ever for one. Will it have any effect on Congress's monitoring of foreign policy? Probably not. Congress will not reclaim any of the powers it ceded, or use gain more legitimacy in foreign policy. Instead, the partisan bickering will likely expose the identity of a dedicated American that followed all the rules. Republicans have likely created more Snowden’s and both parties have stoked partisan divides. Good job everyone.