Providing for Consideration of H.R. Manage Our Wolves Act, and Providing for Proceedings During the Period From November Through November 2018

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member McGovern and Representative Khanna for all they have done to help lead the efforts to end the United States' unauthorized war in Yemen.

Congress' sole responsibility over offensive use of force is outlined in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution: ``Congress shall have power to . . . declare war.'' James Madison argued that this power ``is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.'' Yet, today, House Republicans are attempting to avoid their responsibilities by sneaking unrelated language into this rule which will prohibit consideration of a War Powers Resolution pertaining to the U.S.-Saudi war in Yemen.

To be clear, they took a bill about removing gray wolves from the endangered species list in North America and included a provision prohibiting even just the discussion of war in Yemen.

Now, there are rare Arabian wolves native to Yemen--about 1,000 to 2,000--roaming in the Middle East. Canis lupus arabs is a subspecies of gray wolf. But this is a wolf in sheep's clothing. This is the deprivileging of H. Con. Res. 138, which is just another abdication of our responsibilities as Members of Congress.

We are literally elected to make decisions about war and peace, and we are failing to do the most basic function of our job: to uphold the Constitution. We should at least have the courage to make the decisions about war and about conflicts in which we are entangling our constituents who serve in the military.

Today, as Mr. McGovern said, Yemen is the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet, with the U.N. saying that 14 million people--half the population of Yemen--are either experiencing full-blown famine at the risk of death by starvation as soon as the end of the year.

Since 2015, U.S. forces have been backing the Saudi war by assisting in targeting, logistical support, and refueling deadly Saudi airstrikes in a war that has nothing to do with fighting al-Qaida.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, by reasserting Congress' authority over war, we can end active U.S. participation in a Saudi-led conflict in which the Saudis are imposing a blockade to literally starve millions of Yemenis to death. If the U.S. ends its involvement, Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman will be forced to the negotiating table to end his brutal bombing campaign and blockade on food.

Even the Senate isn't afraid to take this up. In March, under Leader Mitch McConnell, the Senate debated and voted on the unconstitutional war in Yemen: 44 Senators voted for the measure. A bipartisan group led that.

Unfortunately, rather than upholding our founding values, the leadership in this House has chosen to quietly insert a measure to block the House from debating the war.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this cynical tactic. Whether you agree or not about ending the illegal U.S.-Saudi war, vote against this rule so you can allow us to do our jobs and vote to do what we swore to uphold: our sole authority to debate and vote on war.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source