- Click here for the article.
Here are a couple items from it:
In his remarks on Wednesday, the President said he didn’t have the power to directly end a trade embargo law imposed on Cuba by Congress in the 1990s in the form of the Helms-Burton Act. President Bill Clinton signed the law in 1996, and it requires the Cuban government to make democratic changes that would grant its citizens political and economic rights before the embargo is lifted.
The President’s remarks indicate he will use his powers to diplomatically recognize Cuba, regulate trade licenses and prioritize how regulations are enforced to change at least part of the Helms-Burton Act’s intent.
The Constitution authorizes the president to receive ambassadors and places no restrictions on it, and the power to faithfully implement the laws tends to provide discretion to enforce laws - depending on how specific Congress wrote the law. I'll post separately on the Helms Burton Act.
But the president cannot appoint ambassadors or fund embassies without congressional approval.
The article links to commentary on the "power of nonrecognition" which might be helpful when we look at foreign policy later this brief semester. It establishes the predominance of the executive branch in transacting business with foreign nations. But this does not mean that Congress - along with the courts - is without checks on this powers.
“The executive branch is the sole mouthpiece of the nation in communication with foreign sovereignties,” it said, citing the President’s Article II powers.
So while the President can extend diplomatic recognition to Cuba and send an ambassador to Havana, Congress does have the power to withhold funding for the embassy there. The Senate through its Advice and Consent powers also can block the nomination of an ambassador, and even keep the nomination in a state of committee limbo.
“The Senate can take no part in it at all, until the President has sent in a nomination. Then it acts in its executive capacity, and, customarily, in ‘executive session.’ The legislative branch of the Government can exercise no influence over this step except, very indirectly, by withholding appropriations,” the Senate stated back in 1897.
Note that the executive power of the sword can be checked by the legislative power of the purse.
Efforts to expand trade will be limited by both the Helms-Burton Act, which limits trade with Cuba until it begins to transition to a free market democracy, and the fact that Cuba is still on the State Department's list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism." It's been on the list since 1962, so there are questions about whether it should still be included.
