More than 60 former members of Congress put their names to an open letter urging Congress to assert its role as a fundamental “check and balance” on the government’s executive branch.
“America is suddenly at a perilous crossroads,” states the letter organized by the nonpartisan democracy advocacy organization Issue One. “The executive branch must yield to checks and balances. It must not seize for itself — or for any unelected billionaire — powers that defy accountability.”
Twenty Republicans who are former members of Congress signed the letter, and among them is former Bucks County Congressman Jim Greenwood. He is a lifelong Republican who served in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, Pennsylvania Senate, and lastly as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Greenwood said he and former colleagues who signed the letter understand the importance of the role of Congress “to have the power of the purse.”
“We’re alarmed [by] President Trump and Elon Musk hacking away at all of the [appropriations and programs] and presuming to have the power to override the role of the congressional branch of government’s legislative branch,” Greenwood said. “Not only the usurpation of power by the foolishness and clumsiness of it; it’s based on total ignorance of what these programs do and their value.”
Greenwood said he hopes the letter – in addition to pressure from Americans angered by cuts, abrupt policy changes, constituents feeling deprived of services and worried about essential programs – will increase pressure on Congress to “live up to their obligations.”
Issue One was founded in 2014 with the goal of “reducing the role of money” in American politics. The non-profit organization is calling on Congress to be the system of “checks and balances” originally intended by the Founding Fathers.
“The challenges we face today are not partisan—they are constitutional. Recent actions taken by certain actors within the executive branch, Elon Musk, and his Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE], represent an unprecedented challenge to congressional authority,” the letter states.
According to the U.S. Senate website:
The supremacy of the people through their elected representatives is recognized in Article I, which creates a Congress consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The positioning of Congress at the beginning of the Constitution affirms its status as the “First Branch” of the federal government.
READ: Donald Trump and Elon Musk Are the Greatest Threat to Social Security in Its 90-Year History
The letter goes on to urge current members of Congress to “take immediate action,” detailing recommended steps and initiatives such as:
• Launch comprehensive oversight hearings into the unprecedented access granted to DOGE operatives.
• Subpoena key officials and documents related to DOGE’s hiring practices, financial access, and decision-making authority.
• Publicly reaffirm Congress’ constitutional authority under Article I.
• Most importantly, reject any attempt to shift power permanently into unaccountable private hands.
“We are calling for accountability,” said Issue One CEO and Founder Nick Penniman in a press release. “The Founders were deeply worried about runaway executive power. But that’s what we’re seeing today, with one division inside of the executive branch co-opting the power of the purse and effectively closing down agencies that were formed by Congress. It’s unchecked power, and it’s wildly reckless as a result.
In the letter, complete oversight hearings regarding DOGE operatives’ “unprecedented access” should begin and include the subpoena of key officials and of DODGE hiring practices; financial access and DOGE’s decision-making authority, and reject attempts to move power into “unaccountable private hands.”
“If Congress fails to exert their Article I powers, it risks becoming nothing more than a ceremonial body, debating policies it no longer has the power to enforce,” the letter states. “This is not a theoretical concern — it is an immediate threat to our constitutional order.
Greenwood is hopeful that “these pressures coming from a variety of directions will wake up members of Congress” and ultimately lead them put country and the Constitution over Trump.
