In a procedural vote that laid bare the fault lines within the Democratic Party, two members broke with their caucus this week to advance a Russia sanctions bill toward final passage in the House. The legislation would expand presidential authority to impose sanctions on Moscow, forcing Democrats to weigh the urgency of foreign policy pressure against the enduring question of how much power any executive should hold. The moment is less about Russia alone than about the perennial democratic tension between effective governance and the safeguarding of institutional checks — a tension that rarely