INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Indiana’s next Republican senator, Todd Young, said on Wednesday that
Congress needs to provide a strong check on the executive power wielded by
the president.
Asked about
Congress’ future relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, Young said
lawmakers need to “reassert” their constitutional authority and “stop
delegating so many powers” to the executive branch.
"It’s just our
constitutional duty to keep the executive branch in check,” Young said.
Young, a Republican
congressman who defeated Democrat Evan Bayh on Tuesday, made the remarks
hours after Trump clinched the presidency. During the primary last spring,
the southern Indiana congressman said he would support whoever became the
Republican nominee for president, but he has since kept Trump at
arms-length. He opted to stay at home and campaign in July when Trump was
formally nominated at the Republican convention in Cleveland.
During his campaign
against Bayh, Young repeatedly called on Congress to keep whoever was
elected president in check. He has called for legislation that would require
Congress to approve any major regulation approved by the executive branch.
The conservative
also suggested that the results of Tuesday’s election show voters want
something drastically different than the status quo.
“Sweeping economic
changes” have left “people whose families used to be in securely in the
middle class feeling anxious,” he said. He later added: “It typically takes
bipartisan work to build enough consensus to get things through our
legislative process.”
Young, 44, is an
ex-Marine, Naval Academy graduate and was an aide to former Sen. Richard
Lugar. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago and a law degree
from Indiana University. He was an attorney living in Bloomington when he
narrowly won a four-way Republican primary and then defeated Democratic Rep.
Baron Hill in 2010, riding the Tea Party wave into Congress.
He has since taken
up the bipartisan mantle Bayh cultivated over his two terms as Indiana’s
governor and 12 years in the Senate.
Bayh was the
Democrats’ prized recruit and hoped to help his party retake control of the
Senate when he unexpectedly entered the race in July. But he faced a barrage
of withering attack ads from Young and his allies that questioned Bayh’s
residency in Indiana, his ethics and his lucrative business dealings since
leaving the Senate six years ago.
“It sounds outright
bland, but people here in Indiana want conscientious public servants who
have deep convictions, but are prepared to work across the aisle when
possible,” Young said in an interview after he was declared the winner
Tuesday night.
While Young often
says he wasn’t raised in a political family, his wife Jenny is a niece of
former Republican Vice President Dan Quayle, who rose to prominence by
defeating Bayh’s father in Indiana’s 1980 Senate race
Young said many
wrote him off after Evan Bayh entered the race, which was one of a
half-dozen around the country that Democrats targeted to make gains in the
U.S. Senate.
“I’m a competitive
person. I like to overcome great challenges,” he said. “People stepped up
during what could have been an insurmountable situation in the minds of many
people.”