An overdue check on power
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), joined at left by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), meets with reporters just after the Senate advanced a resolution asserting that President Donald Trump must seek approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran, at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday. Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite
Article 1 of the Constitution is very clear on who has the power to declare war in America: Congress, and only Congress.
The U.S. Senate took an important step last week in reaffirming that unshakable right.
Bipartisan legislation introduced by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine directs the removal of armed forces from hostilities against Iran that haven’t been authorized by Congress. The vote was 55-45, with eight Republicans joining Democrats.
The House of Representatives is set to approve the Senate bill in this push to rebalance constitutional authority. President Donald Trump is expected to veto any such measure and as of now there aren’t enough votes in either chamber to overrule that veto.
All three post-9/11 presidents, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump, have relied on the more and more flimsy 2001 and 2002 authorizations of military force for their continued engagements in the Middle East. On the strength of those dusty authorizations, servicemen and women, including many of New York’s National Guard, have deployed again and again. Decades-old justifications are being used to underpin active service by soldiers some of whom were born after the authorizations were enacted.
So many lives and limbs have been lost without real Congressional debate as presidents conducted this war out of sight. If continued involvement in the Middle East is what Americans want, then let’s have a new debate to define that mission. The world has changed since 2001.
Kaine’s legislation is a response to the Jan. 2 American strike on Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a man responsible for much death and destruction around the region. The legislation specifically commends Trump and the military for that successful mission, but makes clear that offensive military action must be brought to Congress.
It’s an important shift. The president has the right to defend the United States from imminent attack, but most commanders in chief seeks to expand the powers of the office.
America venerates its presidents and is often inspired by their attempts to do what is best for the country. That is the message of Presidents Day, celebrated Monday, which honors the legacy of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the rest.
We would do well to return to Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address, in which the departing first president spoke about the new nation’s political institutions, and the danger of unconsidered foreign entanglements.
Both are as worth remembering now as then.
No matter who is president, America benefits from a check on presidential power. Rebalancing the extraordinary power to commit American lives and treasure to war is long overdue.
— The editorial board
