Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB464 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 464
5	5	To restore the separation of powers between the Congress and the President.
6	6	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
7	7	JANUARY24, 2023
8	8	Mr. G
9	9	OSAR(for himself, Mr. MASSIE, and Ms. HAGEMAN) introduced the fol-
10	10	lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and
11	11	in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Rules, for a period
12	12	to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
13	13	ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
14	14	concerned
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To restore the separation of powers between the Congress
17	17	and the President.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Separation of Powers 4
22	22	Restoration Act’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
24	24	Congress finds the following: 7
25	25	(1) As a limit on governmental power, constitu-8
26	26	tional framers vested Federal powers in three co-9
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29	29	•HR 464 IH
30	30	equal branches of government, each with unique and 1
31	31	limited powers and each with a coequal duty to up-2
32	32	hold and sustain the Constitution of the United 3
33	33	States. 4
34	34	(2) A Supreme Court justice stated, ‘‘The doc-5
35	35	trine of the separation of powers was adopted by the 6
36	36	convention of 1787 not to promote efficiency but to 7
37	37	preclude the exercise of arbitrary power. The pur-8
38	38	pose was not to avoid friction, but, by means of the 9
39	39	inevitable friction incident to the distribution of the 10
40	40	governmental powers among three departments, to 11
41	41	save the people from autocracy.’’ Myers v. United 12
42	42	States, 272 U.S. 52, 293 (1926) (Brandeis, J., dis-13
43	43	senting). 14
44	44	(3) James Madison, quoting Montesquieu, stat-15
45	45	ed in Federalist 47, ‘‘There can be no liberty where 16
46	46	the legislative and executive powers are united in the 17
47	47	same person, or body of magistrates.’’. 18
48	48	(4) Article I of the Constitution provides, ‘‘All 19
49	49	legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 20
50	50	a Congress of the United States.’’. 21
51	51	(5) A congressional committee print has noted 22
52	52	that, ‘‘[b]ecause the President has no power or au-23
53	53	thority over individual citizens and their rights ex-24
54	54	cept where he is granted such power and authority 25
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57	57	•HR 464 IH
58	58	by a provision in the Constitution or by statute, the 1
59	59	President’s proclamations are not legally binding 2
60	60	and are at best hortatory unless based on such 3
61	61	grants of authority.’’ 85th Cong., 1st Sess., Execu-4
62	62	tive Orders and Proclamations: A Study of a Use of 5
63	63	Presidential Powers (Comm. Print 1957). 6
64	64	(6) The Supreme Court has stated that, even if 7
65	65	Presidents have, without congressional authority, 8
66	66	taken actions only the Congress may take, ‘‘Con-9
67	67	gress has not thereby lost its exclusive constitutional 10
68	68	authority to make laws necessary and proper to 11
69	69	carry out the powers vested by the Constitution ‘in 12
70	70	the Government of the United States, or any De-13
71	71	partment or Officer thereof.’’’. (Youngstown Sheet 14
72	72	& Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952)). 15
73	73	(7) Treaties or executive agreements which pur-16
74	74	port to assign powers not amongst those specifically 17
75	75	granted to the Federal Government by the Constitu-18
76	76	tion are non-binding and cannot constitute law. 19
77	77	SEC. 3. SEPARATION OF POWERS RESTORING RESCIS-20
78	78	SIONS. 21
79	79	(a) R
80	80	EPEAL OFWARPOWERSRESOLUTION.—The 22
81	81	War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.) is re-23
82	82	pealed. 24
83	83	(b) T
84	84	ERMINATION OFSTATES OFEMERGENCY.— 25
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87	87	•HR 464 IH
88	88	(1) IN GENERAL.—All powers and authorities 1
89	89	possessed by the President, any other officer or em-2
90	90	ployee of the Federal Government, or any executive 3
91	91	agency (as defined in section 105 of title 5) as a re-4
92	92	sult of the existence of any declaration of national 5
93	93	emergency in effect on the date of enactment of this 6
94	94	Act are terminated 90 days after such date. Such 7
95	95	termination shall not affect— 8
96	96	(A) any action taken or proceeding pend-9
97	97	ing not finally concluded or determined on such 10
98	98	date; 11
99	99	(B) any action or proceeding based on any 12
100	100	act committed prior to such date; or 13
101	101	(C) any rights or duties that matured or 14
102	102	penalties that were incurred prior to such date. 15
103	103	(2) D
104	104	EFINITION.—For the purpose of this sub-16
105	105	section, the term ‘‘national emergency’’ means a 17
106	106	general declaration of emergency made by the Presi-18
107	107	dent or any other officer or employee of the execu-19
108	108	tive branch. 20
109	109	(c) T
110	110	ERMINATION OF AUTHORITYTODECLARE 21
111	111	E
112	112	MERGENCY.—To the extent that any Act of Congress in 22
113	113	effect on the date of enactment of this Act grants to the 23
114	114	President or any other officer or employee of the executive 24
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117	117	•HR 464 IH
118	118	branch the power to declare a national emergency, such 1
119	119	power is hereby divested to the Congress alone. 2
120	120	SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT OF STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY FOR 3
121	121	PRESIDENTIAL ORDERS. 4
122	122	(a) S
123	123	TATEMENT OF AUTHORITY.—The President 5
124	124	shall include with each Presidential order a statement of 6
125	125	the specific statutory or constitutional provision which in 7
126	126	fact grants the President the authority claimed for such 8
127	127	action. 9
128	128	(b) I
129	129	NVALIDITY OFNONCONFORMING ORDERS.—A 10
130	130	Presidential order which does not include the statement 11
131	131	required by subsection (a) is invalid, to the extent such 12
132	132	Presidential order is issued under authority granted by a 13
133	133	congressional enactment. 14
134	134	SEC. 5. EFFECT OF PRESIDENTIAL ORDERS. 15
135	135	(a) L
136	136	IMITEDEFFECT OFPRESIDENTIALORDERS.— 16
137	137	A Presidential order neither constitutes nor has the force 17
138	138	of law and is limited in its application and effect to the 18
139	139	executive branch. 19
140	140	(b) E
141	141	XCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not apply 20
142	142	to— 21
143	143	(1) a reprieve or pardon for an offense against 22
144	144	the United States, except in cases of impeachment; 23
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147	147	•HR 464 IH
148	148	(2) an order given to military personnel pursu-1
149	149	ant to duties specifically related to actions taken as 2
150	150	Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces; or 3
151	151	(3) a Presidential order citing the specific con-4
152	152	gressional enactment relied upon for the authority 5
153	153	exercised in such order and— 6
154	154	(A) issued pursuant to such authority; 7
155	155	(B) commensurate with the limit imposed 8
156	156	by the plain language of such authority; and 9
157	157	(C) not issued pursuant to a ratified or un-10
158	158	ratified treaty or bilateral or multilateral agree-11
159	159	ment which— 12
160	160	(i) violates the ninth or tenth amend-13
161	161	ments to the Constitution; or 14
162	162	(ii) makes a delegation of power to a 15
163	163	foreign government or international body 16
164	164	when no such delegating authority exists 17
165	165	under the Constitution. 18
166	166	SEC. 6. STANDING TO CHALLENGE PRESIDENTIAL ORDERS 19
167	167	WHICH IMPACT SEPARATION OF POWERS IN-20
168	168	TEGRITY. 21
169	169	The following persons may bring an action in an ap-22
170	170	propriate United States court to challenge the validity of 23
171	171	any Presidential order which exceeds the power granted 24
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174	174	•HR 464 IH
175	175	to the President by the relevant authorizing statute or the 1
176	176	Constitution: 2
177	177	(1) C
178	178	ONGRESS AND ITS MEMBERS .—The House 3
179	179	of Representatives, the Senate, any Senator, and 4
180	180	any Representative to the House of Representatives, 5
181	181	if the challenged Presidential order— 6
182	182	(A) infringes on any power of Congress; 7
183	183	(B) exceeds any power granted by a con-8
184	184	gressional enactment; or 9
185	185	(C) violates section 4 because it does not 10
186	186	state the statutory authority which in fact 11
187	187	grants the President the power claimed for the 12
188	188	action taken in such Presidential order. 13
189	189	(2) S
190	190	TATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS .—The 14
191	191	highest governmental official of any State, common-15
192	192	wealth, district, territory, or possession of the 16
193	193	United States, or any political subdivision thereof, or 17
194	194	the designee of such person, if the challenged Presi-18
195	195	dential order infringes on the powers afforded to the 19
196	196	States under the Constitution. 20
197	197	(3) A
198	198	GGRIEVED PERSONS .—Any person ag-21
199	199	grieved in a liberty or property interest adversely af-22
200	200	fected directly by the challenged Presidential order. 23
201	201	SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF PRESIDENTIAL ORDER. 24
202	202	In this Act, the term ‘‘Presidential order’’ means— 25
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205	205	•HR 464 IH
206	206	(1) any Executive order, Presidential proclama-1
207	207	tion, or Presidential directive; and 2
208	208	(2) any other Presidential or Executive action 3
209	209	by whatever name described purporting to have nor-4
210	210	mative effect outside the executive branch which is 5
211	211	issued under the authority of the President or any 6
212	212	other officer or employee of the executive branch. 7
213	213	Æ
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