Studentcam documentary competitions. Middle and High School Students created videos answering the question what issue do you most want the 2020 president ial candidates to address . Our first prize High School East award goes to thomas mckenna, a 10th grader from at mckenna homeschool in lovettsville, virginia, with cspan available through comcast. Their winning entry is titled overreach from the oval office. Here i have an article to where i have the right to do whatever i want as president , but i do not even talk about that. Ive got a pen, and ive got a phone. And i can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward. Out oury one, we take executive order pen and we rescind every damn thing on this issue trump had filed. Is this the way the government is supposed to function . According to the constitution, all three branches are supposed to check and balance each other. But over the past three years, the executive branch, in particular, has time and time again overstepped its bounds. We do not do significant political change through rule of law anymore. We do it through executive orders and actions and rules and regulations. That may seem like an academic point, but it is not just an academic point. 2020e worst part is the candidates are looking to concentrate even more power to the executive branch, more specifically the presidency. Lets back it up. What are the limits on executive power supposed to look like and why should we care . Unlike for legislative power, where you have the enumeration of the various Powers Congress gets, article two only says executive power is vested in the president of the united states. It is a lot more nebulous what the scope of those powers are. Basically, it is supposed to enforce the Laws Congress passes rather than make the law itself. The law surrounding president ial powers is complex. Enforcing the law that Congress Passes rather than making the law himself. They did not want a king. Some of the arguments of the impeachment of trump right now are those arguments, that he is acting like a king. Some of the arguments against obama was he was acting like a king. So those are the limits of executive power. But what does it look like when the president oversteps those bounds . Constitutional scholars argued the past two president s have given us plenty of examples. At the conclusion of the obama presidency, dr. Shapiro compiled a list of the top 10 ways he thought president obama violated the constitution while in office. He included the implantation and actions of obama care, profiling by the irs, and the chrysler bailout. President obama used funds from the troubled Asset Relief Program to bail out chrysler. Congress did not approve it. It did not disapprove it either. And he did that. It happened to be successful. But it took a lot of power away from congress. It turns out that president sorcery is notal an anomaly. A similar diversion of funds occurred under president trump. President trump reprogrammed funds for the Defense Department to use for his wall. Money foray not use his wall unless authorized and appropriated by congress. No matter who is elected next term, the reddick of the rhetoric of the 2020 candidates indicates exec at of overage has become normalized. Not a single one has objected to the expansion of executive power. This is what i would do. Day one, executive order. On day one, i will attack the prices on commonly used drugs like epipen and insulin. On day one, they need to present something to congress and have them consider it and vote on it and debate on it, and it is hard when you have a divided party government. We find plenty of executive action in the president candidates plans. To expandrren wants background checks. Senator bookers plan relies on executive orders. Pulled on. But these issues are important. We need to be taking action now. Sure, these issues may be important to you, but it is even more important to make sure we are keeping the president in check. Congress should be the ones taking those actions that congress is not acting. At least the president is doing things. What actions . Would you want the president to take action you do not like . So how do we stop this runaway train . A professor at the university of texas says that Congress First needs to reassert itself as the main lawmaking power of the government and put the executive branch back in its place. I do not think there is any question that whoever is president in 2021, whether donald trump or one of the democratic nominees, they are going to exert executive power. The real question is what is the Congress Going to do to rein those assertions in. Ultimately, this response to the falls on the president. After all, the official in the in aposition to rein secular power is whoever is sitting in the oval office. Everybody wants action, but nobody wants addiction. In executive power, we can make sure washington remains balanced among the three branches of government. I asked the 2020 candidates how will you put a halt to the runaway train of executive order . You can watch each winning studentcam documentary online at studentcam. Org. Coming up on washington journal, the National Constitution centers Jeffrey Rosen on Constitutional Rights during a pandemic. Then we hear from ilyse schuman, Health Policy at Senior Vice President at the American Benefits council on how the coronavirus pandemic impacts employersponsored health care coverage. After that, Stephen Morrison with the center for strategic and International Studies on the role of the World Health Organization and the president s decision to cut its funding. Washington journal is next. Good morning on this monday, april 20. We will begin with hearing about what it is like to be an essential worker in this country. If you are an essential worker, we want to hear your story. Your number is 202 7488000. If you are a friend or family number of an essential worker, we want to hear what it is like from you as well and your loved ones stories. 202 7488001 is your line. You can also text as, first name, city, and state, to 202 7488003