If there is collision between the president and Congress, can Congress restrain the president in foreign policy making?

They each have their duties, and they can not do what the other is allowed.

The answer is no. Executive branch conducts diplomacy with other nations. Congress can defund any of the efforts that the president makes towards other nations, such as aide (military or humanitarian) but that's a complex process because it woud be part of a budget bill. It's very hard to defund things without an amendment, and the president cold veto the entire budget bill if it doesn't contain funding for something that he insists on.

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Originally Posted by marvelus49

The answer is no. Executive branch conducts diplomacy with other nations. Congress can defund any of the efforts that the president makes towards other nations, such as aide (military or humanitarian) but that's a complex proces becuase it woud be part of a budget bill. It's very hard to defund things without an amendment, and the president cold veto the entire budget bill if it doesn't contain funding for something that he insists on.

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True, but congress could override the veto. Checks and balances and all that fun stuff. So theoretically yes, they could. Blocking would be difficult, but hampering efforts are easy enough to do.

One trick you see is hanging an amendment on EVERY bill basically stalling everything. So anytime the president wants to get anything passed, he has to deal with X issue. Another trick is to add amendments to bills that the president doesn't like or has to look like the bad guy in dealing with (English as a national language, social security reform etc)

So the official answer is no, they cant. The realistic answer is while they cant, they can certainly make it difficult. Congress controls the money and money makes the world go 'round.

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Originally Posted by khousen

If there is collision between the president and Congress, can Congress restrain the president in foreign policy making?

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I don't see this to be a criminal law question. Maybe homework, maybe not, but perhaps better posted on another board.

>Moved from Criminal Law to a more appropriate forum<

Congress must approve all treaties, so the threat of Congressional disapproval can shape the negotiations with the foreign country. The current situation with the free trade agreement between the US and Colombia is a case in point.