President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the South Lawn before leaving the White House, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) signed on Monday to co-sponsor a Democrat-led bill to amend the US Constitution to give Congress oversight of presidential pardons, a measure aimed at pushing back on President Of Donald Trump highly controversial use of presidential pardon power.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-MD) last December and allows a minimum of 20 House members and five senators to request congressional review of a pardon, which triggers a 60-day deadline for Congress to nullify that pardon with a two-thirds majority vote — similar to a veto override.
Olszewski announced his bill, the Pardon Integrity Act, in a floor speech that listed some of Trump’s most controversial pardons, including a blanket pardon for all of the Jan. 6 rioters — including those who violently attacked police officers.
“None of us should accept as normal practice that a president, any president, has used their executive pardon power to free convicted drug kingpins, those convicted of violently assaulting law enforcement officers, and even a money-laundering crypto tycoon with ties to the president’s family business,” Olszewski said in his speech, adding:
However, this is exactly what President Trump has done. On his first day back in office, President Trump pardoned 1,500 people involved in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Since then, he has pardoned or commuted the sentences of nearly 90 others. Recently, the former president of Honduras added Juan Orlando Hernandez for that list. Hernandez was serving a 45-year prison sentence for conspiring to smuggle more than 400 tons or 4.5 billion doses of cocaine into the United States. Hernandez was also convicted of accepting bribes from violent drug cartel members to further his political career, shielding them from prosecution in exchange for their bribes
Olszewski announced that Bacon would join his bill, writing, “The Constitution does not give any president the authority to place themselves above the law. I am proud that Congressman Bacon joins this effort, because safeguarding democracy and maintaining justice should never be a partisan issue. When the power of pardon is abused to protect criminals and political allies, Congress has a responsibility to act.”
“This amendment creates a narrow, common-sense check to ensure that the pardon power is used fairly and responsibly regardless of who occupies the White House,” he added.
Bacon, a former Air Force general who is not seeking re-election in his swing district, added, “Presidential pardons are an important constitutional authority, but like all powers held by the executive branch, these authorities benefit from the proper checks and balances intended by the Constitution. In various administrations, we have seen legitimate questions raised about how this authority has been used at the same time to provide congress with the same time.
“Frankly, it is clear to me that the pardon authority has been abused. I am pleased to co-sponsor Rep. Olszewski’s Pardon Integrity Act, a constitutional amendment that establishes a narrow, common-sense guardrail that preserves the pardon power while ensuring that Congress can fulfill its constitutional role to provide accountability and maintain the rule of law in a Bacon statement,” concluded Bacon. Bacon’s support for the measure followed Trump’s pardoning of several NFL players who had been convicted of various crimes, including drug trafficking.
Bacon is also behind a bipartisan bill to return the power to impose tariffs solely to Congress, which adheres to the original wording of the Constitution.
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