Senate Majority Leader John Thune pushes his glasses up as he speaks to reporters outside his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., October 14, 2025.
The current Congress, led by Republican majorities, is doomed to a legacy as a "weakling" that conceded almost all of its powers to President Donald Trump, according to a new piece from The Hill, and its recent attempts to defy him are "too little, too late."
William S. Becker previously spent over a decade as the Department of Energy's central regional director, as well as a special assistant to the department’s assistant secretary of energy efficiency and renewable energy. On Monday morning, he published his latest piece for The Hill, outlining all the ways in which the current Congress, the 119th, has ceded its responsibilities to Trump and doomed itself to a legacy of weakness in its final months.
"There are less than five months left in the life of the 119th Congress," Becker wrote. "We should not mourn its passing. Under Republican control, it has ceased to function as a co-equal branch of government. We can criticize its lack of productivity and disagree with its politics, but it will be remembered for letting the other two branches of government steal its power."
He added: "Congress has a crucial role in preventing excesses of the executive and judicial branches. However, the 119th has not defended itself or the country against President Trump’s autocratic impulses. And by surrendering its power, it left a vacuum into which the judiciary has moved."
In the wake of Trump's cratering approval ratings, some members of the House and Senate have attempted to act in defiance of his will, to avoid voter backlash for seeming to be subservient to his every whim and desire. Becker argued, however, that this cannot undo the damage already done, as for nearly two years, Congress "has allowed Trump to do extraordinary damage to the integrity of government, the public’s trust in it, the rule of law and the nation’s international relations"
The sins of this Congress have been numerous, as Becker laid them out: ceding their authority to set taxes, allowing for Trump's disastrous tariffs; ceding its authority to create, change or eliminate federal agencies, allowing DOGE to gut the federal government wholesale; and confirming many of his appointments, despite their lack of any relevant skills besides loyalty to the president.
"Some conservatives support Trump’s aggressive use of power under the unitary executive theory. Article II of the Constitution, they note, states that 'The executive Power shall be vested in a President,'" Becker continued. "However, a president’s authority must have limits, lest it expand into authoritarianism. Even an expansive interpretation of Article II cannot give the president powers that Article I assigns to Congress. Congress is supposed to defend itself against incursions by the other branches, especially presidents who would make themselves kings. The 119th Congress has failed to do so. All that is necessary for democracy to fail is for the people’s representatives to look on and do nothing."
