Statement from me and from mr. Cole then well go tow our distinguished witnesses. Today the rules committee will hold a hearing to discuss how the constitution separated powers between the legislative and executive branches and how the balance of power between these branches has shifted over time. We are doing this in the hopes of finding concrete Bipartisan Solutions to better ensure congress is playing the role our nations founders envisioned. Thats a lot, i know. And while a constitutional debate may be fun for law students and legal scholars and mr. Raskin [ laughter ] the it wasnt fun when i was yeah. For the rest of us, it could feel a little in the weeds. So, so for the rest of us, let me simplify. You know, we throw around the phrase, the peoples house, a lot around here, but this really is but this really is about whether we remain the institution that our nations founders created to be the voice of the people. The constitution entrusts congress with deciding how to spend fede
University, if you dont have your heart set on working in the u. S. Government or if youre retired. [laughter] but its hard to find people inside the Foreign Policy establishment who are willing to say what they think on this issue out loud. Just look at how chuck hagel and Samantha Power had to contort themselves during their confirmation hearings, and you see the lob bys continued lob bys continued influence. And please dont forget were still a long way from a deal with iran or a twostate solution, and the lobby will be working 24 7 to make sure that the United States doesnt do anything israel doesnt want. In short, reports of the lobbys demise have been greatly exaggerated, and given that fact, what do i think we ought to do about it . Ill just give you, i hi, four basic lessons here. Lesson number one, its just politics, stupid. First lesson i would emphasize is this is all about politics. Israel lobby is powerful because it has all the features that make an Interest Group powerful