U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher is tired of Congress not doing its job.

The Houston Democrat said she knows Republicans are in the majority and get to call all the shots, but she’s alarmed that her GOP colleagues are not standing up more when the White House chips away at the powers that are spelled out for them in the U.S. Constitution.

More specifically, she said the U.S. Constitution makes clear that spending bills and tariffs are both duties of Congress. Yet Republicans have allowed President Donald Trump to cancel spending for federal programs that they appropriated and set tariffs on almost every nation in the world.

“What has happened now is that the Republicans in Congress have pretty much abdicated their responsibility,” Fletcher said in an interview on the Texas Take Podcast. “They're taking orders from the White House. And as far as I can see, they're really not resisting what's coming from the White House.”

In August, Trump celebrated canceling about $5 billion in foreign aid that Congress had already approved. And on tariffs, Trump has claimed a national emergency to skirt the U.S. House and Senate.

The typically mild-mannered Fletcher isn’t being quiet about her concern. On Thursday, she testified before House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, challenging him and other Republicans to defend the role of Congress for the sake of the Constitution.

“I urge the committee and the Congress to remember its purpose and to use its power to protect, support and defend the people and the Constitution of the United States,” she said in a pointed five-minute presentation.

There are a few Republicans over the last year who have expressed similar concerns. Earlier in the year, U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski all helped push to block Trump’s tariffs on Canada, but the legislation never passed.

And earlier this week, NOTUS, an online nonprofit news site, reported that U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, tried to prevent Trump from using the same tactics to block future congressional spending that he did this summer. But ultimately, the White House pressured Diaz-Balart and other Republicans to stand down.

Those are the exceptions. Most Republicans in Congress have fallen in line and allowed the White House to gain more authority, even if it bruises the Constitution. U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, explained to reporters last year that it's because Trump is the clear leader of the party and whatever he wants, Congress needs to embrace it.

“If Donald Trump says tariffs work, tariffs work. Because Donald Trump is really never wrong,” he said.

View this article in the Houston Chronicle.