In Jim Fossel’s Aug. 16 commentary, “Congress must check Trump,” he paints with too broad a brush in blaming Congress for inaction on critical issues like DACA, climate change, the Iran nuclear deal, and Trump’s overreach with executive orders. The real source of inaction is the Republican Party.

There have been 10 versions of the “Dream Act” (DACA) submitted to Congress since 2001, each one opposed by a majority of Republicans. The closest a bill came to becoming law was in 2010. It would have provided undocumented high school graduates a three-step pathway to citizenship through college, work or the armed forces. After the Democratic House passed a version, it came up five votes short in the Senate, thanks to Republican opposition. Even when Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham sponsored a version in 2017, his colleagues, led by Mitch McConnell, shot it down.

The Iran Peace deal, an agreement between Iran and six countries — the U.S., France, Britain, Germany, China, and Russia — would have prevented Iran from building a nuclear weapon in the next 10 years. The ratification of the agreement passed in the Democratic-controlled House but was axed in McConnell’s Senate.

On climate change, the 2009 bipartisan cap-and-trade bill passed in the House but failed in the Senate, thanks to lack of Republican support.

Finally, don’t hold your breath on Republicans during an election year opposing anything Trump says or does, including overreaching his power using executive orders. They remember what happened to their hapless colleagues who have had the temerity to do so in the past.

Trump owns the Republican Party, and almost all Republican members of the House and Senate are much more interested in getting Trump’s support in their reelection than they are in using Congress’s might to work for the people.

George Martin

Mount Vernon