# Can Congress be fixed? A Firing Line forum with Philip Wallach and Oona Hathaway

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/firing-line-with-margaret-hoover-3927052/can-congress-be-fixed-a-firing-line-forum-with-philip-wallach-and-oona-hathaway
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/firing-line-with-margaret-hoover-3927052/can-congress-be-fixed-a-firing-line-forum-with-philip-wallach-and-oona-hathaway.md
Podcast: [Firing Line with Margaret Hoover](https://stenobird.com/podcast/firing-line-with-margaret-hoover-3927052)
Published: 2026-04-11T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/firing-line/episodes/Can-Congress-be-fixed--A-Firing-Line-forum-with-Philip-Wallach-and-Oona-Hathaway-e3hnmpm
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/59ca458c/podcast/play/118266102/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-3-10%2F3cf0947b-8b2f-3531-fbc8-d2129eba294e.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/firing-line-with-margaret-hoover-3927052/episodes/can-congress-be-fixed-a-firing-line-forum-with-philip-wallach-and-oona-hathaway
Duration seconds: 2372

## Resource

As presidents increasingly rely on executive action to advance their agenda, Philip Wallach and Oona Hathaway join Margaret Hoover to discuss why Congress has abdicated its constitutional power and how to fix it in a forum at Hofstra University. Wallach, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of “Why Congress,” talks about the role the founders envisioned for the legislative branch and how it has changed in recent decades amid rising partisanship and political dysfunction. Hathaway, a Yale Law School professor who served on a Princeton University panel examining congressional reform, assesses how presidents have claimed war powers that the Constitution assigned to Congress and comments on the role of the Supreme Court in shifting power to the executive branch. The guests take questions from students, offer ideas for reform, and explain how Gen Z can help fix the system and restore the balance of power in Washington. Support for Firing Line with Margaret Hoover is provided by Robert Granieri, Vanessa and Henry Cornell, The Fairweather Foundation, The Tepper Foundation, Peter and Mary Kalikow, The Beth and Ravenel Curry Foundation, Pritzker Military Foundation, Cliff and Laurel Asness, The Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation, Katharine J. Rayner, Charles R. Schwab, Lindsay and George Billingsley, The Meadowlark Foundation, Jared Stone, Al and Kathy Hubbard, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

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