Foreign Policy Making and the Congress

Archive Report

Involvement of Congress in Foreign Policy

The ninetieth congress has begun to reassert the constitutional prerogatives of the Legislative Branch in the field of foreign policy. To the consternation of the White House and the State Department, a drive for Senate adoption of a House-approved resolution to strengthen President Johnson's hand at the recent Western Hemisphere summit meeting at Punta del Este had to be abandoned when it ran into unexpected resistance in the Foreign Relations Committee.

If the trend toward greater independence of Executive Branch pressure in matters of foreign policy continues, it will mark the end of a prolonged period in which Congress has been disposed to acquiesce routinely in presidential demands. Leaders of Congress seem to be growing wary of extending to the ...

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