Congress has shown a declining capacity to constrain the president in US foreign policy making, according to James Goldgeier and Elizabeth Saunders in "The Unconstrained Presidency."

Core Argument

Goldgeier and Saunders argue that long-term trends have eroded traditional checks on presidential power in foreign affairs, predating recent administrations. They highlight how Congress's declining foreign policy expertise among members, combined with rising political polarization, has sharply reduced its oversight role. This shift allows presidents greater unilateral action, as legislators lack both the knowledge and bipartisan will to supervise effectively.

Key Factors Cited

  • Expertise Erosion : Lawmakers once possessed deep foreign policy knowledge, enabling robust committee oversight and informed invisible constraints, like ensuring reliable White House advice. That has faded since the Cold War, especially post-1990s.
  • Polarization Impact : Partisan divides make bipartisan foreign policy consensus rare, sapping Congress's appetite and ability to check executive moves on trade, force, or alliances.
  • Bureaucratic Shifts : Centralized White House decision-making has sidelined career experts, further weakening external pressures on the president.

Broader Constraints

The authors extend this to other actors:

  • Bureaucracy : Lost incentives for expertise as power consolidates.
  • Allies : U.S. partnerships now tangled in domestic politics, limiting their leverage.
  • Institutions : Presidents routinely bypass global bodies post-Cold War.

Yet, Congress stands out as the primary political actor with notably diminished capacity, central to their thesis on an "unchained" presidency.

"Constraints on the president—not just from Congress but also from the bureaucracy, allies, and international institutions—have been eroding for decades."

Context and Implications

Published around 2018 in Foreign Affairs , this piece ties into debates on executive overreach amid polarization—a trend echoed in forums and analyses through 2025. While some viewpoints emphasize bureaucracy or allies, Goldgeier and Saunders spotlight Congress's fall from expertise-driven restraint. This has real-world echoes in recent policy debates, like trade or alliances under President Trump.

TL;DR : Congress, due to lost expertise and polarization.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.