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Last week on Assembly Required, I opened with heartbreak. The targeted shooting of State Representative Melissa Hortman and State Senator John Hoffman was not simply an act of political violence—it was an act of erasure. An attempt to silence the kind of public servants who show up for their communities without fanfare, without fear, and too often, without protection. Representative Hortman and her husband are gone. Senator Hoffman and his wife are recovering. Members of Congress, too, are once again being reminded: this violence is not abstract. It is personal, and it is persistent.
Yet even now, there’s still no real plan for what happens if Members of Congress or other public servants become targets. Violence knows no partisanship, but the party in power has the affirmative obligation to confront what is rending our nation. Yet, we have seen and heard nothing. No strategy for safeguarding the institution itself in the face of rising threats. Lawmakers have held hearings, issued statements, and filed a few proposals. When it comes to action, though, Congressional leadership has been woefully silent and terribly absent.
The same is true on so many fronts.
In Los Angeles, where peaceful protesters went out into the streets to stop unjust immigration raids, Trump sent in the National Guard and Marines, without the consent of the governor. Armed federal agents have stormed churches, factories, and homes, while Republicans in Congress barely raised their voice. Other than sending [ [link removed] ] threatening letters to nonprofits trying to minimize harm, they’ve done nothing to protect Americans. No oversight. No consequences. Missing in action.
Over the weekend, President Trump unilaterally ordered strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. No authorization from Congress other than a briefing for Republicans with no Democratic participation. No public debate. No plan. Once again, Congress has remained mostly quiet, issuing statements, but offering no action. No hearings. No pushback. No reassertion of its constitutional role. Missing in action.
A budget bill careens through the legislative process, threatening to deny hungry children food and push millions off of healthcare and out of hospitals and nursing homes. The wealthy will reap billions, and the lowest rungs of the economic ladder will be pushed into deeper poverty. Working families will lose access to energy policies that are making their bills cheaper and their homes more comfortable. Where is Congress? Silent about the consequences and refusing to defend their constituents rather than their fealty to an authoritarian president. No honorable opposition. Missing in action.
This is not about who won in November. It’s about accountability and where they are leading our nation. In each of these moments—political violence at home, militarized crackdowns on dissent, policy attacks on the vulnerable or unauthorized acts of war—Congress has either looked away or looked busy while doing nothing.
As resounded across the country a few weeks ago, America has no monarchy. No president has the unilateral authority to take this country into war. The Constitution gives that power to Congress for a reason. Our division of power is designed to compel a full reckoning on the issues and challenges facing our people. Yet, in the face of real and growing danger—both to individual lawmakers and to democratic norms—inaction is not neutral. It is a choice. A dangerous one.
We’re facing different kinds of danger—from the targeted political violence that took Representative Hortman’s life to the unchecked use of military force abroad. Economic perils and the erosion of civil liberties. Of course, these are not the same—but what connects them is the failure of our institutions to act. In each case, Congress has had opportunities to lead, to prepare, and to protect—and too often, it has chosen not to. Inaction cannot be treated as a missed opportunity or strategy of non-engagement. It’s a dangerous pattern that, if allowed to hold, cedes the will of the people to the dominion of an incautious strongman who lies with impunity.
But Americans are not standing still. We are speaking out. Organizing. Showing up for one another. Holding the line where others have stepped back.
It’s time for our elected leaders to do the same. Congress must reassert its authority, demand oversight, and prepare for the unthinkable—not after tragedy, but before it. Because war, like democracy, cannot be left to one man.

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