Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes.

Mr. Chairman, we have been reengaged in Iraq since June of 2014. We have been in Syria since September of 2014. And, quite frankly, the time to have debated an AUMF was before we became militarily engaged in these two countries.

We have repeatedly heard from the leaders in this House that Congress does, indeed, have a constitutional duty to do an AUMF and it would be considered, but we have not done so. I believe that, barring the passage of this amendment, which would force Congress to do the right thing, we will never do an AUMF. Perhaps we lack the courage, or perhaps we are satisfied to allow these wars to run on automatic pilot.

Our inaction is wrong. It is an insult to our troops. Whether you want to expand these wars or end these wars, we should all agree that we should vote on an AUMF.

This amendment simply says that if there is no AUMF, then there is no money for combat operations. That gives us ample time during the rest of this year to vote on an AUMF. There are no more excuses. Please, please stop making excuses.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chairman, to justify wars in 2016 on an AUMF in 2001 is ludicrous.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), one of the sponsors of this amendment.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chair, I inquire as to how much time remains.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chair,

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chair, I thank the ranking member for yielding because this is debate, quite frankly, that we need to have, and we need to have it in more than 10 minutes. If one supports this amendment, we will have that debate.

Mr. Chair, this amendment is not about cutting out funds to our troops. The underlying bill, interestingly, already does that come next April. This amendment is about the dereliction of duty by Congress. If Congress keeps voting for the money to send our men and women in uniform to fight and die in Iraq and Syria, then it should have the courage to debate and vote on an AUMF for those missions as the Constitution of the United States demands of us. It is that simple.

We have heard from leaders of this Chamber over and over and over again that they agree that we ought to debate an AUMF, but every time we try to force the issue, there is another excuse. We are told that we have to wait for the White House to propose an AUMF. They did. I don't particularly like it--some may like it, and some may not--but we ought to bring it to the floor. We ought to debate it and amend it and vote on it. That is what we are supposed to do.

There is something very, very wrong about the fact that we have so many men and women in harm's way right now--some of them who are losing their lives because of their deployments--and we are content to do nothing. We don't even talk about what is happening in Iraq and Syria. We don't have these debates that we should be having.

All we are saying--and I don't care what your views are on these wars--is that you ought to agree that we ought to have a debate. That is what the McGovern-Jones-Lee-Amash-Garamendi amendment is all about. America's men and women in uniform are doing their duty, and I respectfully ask my colleagues to do theirs.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chair, again, I would just say to my colleagues that this is about our respecting the Constitution of the United States. This is about respecting the service of our men and women whom we have put in harm's way. We all know we should be doing this. We have to have the guts and the courage to do it.

I urge the passage of my amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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