War Powers Reside in the U.S. Congress

Floor Speech

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Mr. GREEN of Texas. And still I rise, Madam Speaker, because I love my country and because I have reason to be concerned, and I believe that every American has reason to be concerned about the issue that I shall address today.

Those of us who are in the House of Representatives should be especially concerned because the issue involves war and peace. It involves the sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. America--war and peace.

We have, by and through our Chief Executive Officer, the President of the United States of America, caused a Nimitz-class battle group to go into the Gulf region.

For those who do not know, this is the ultimate expression of American military prowess, a Nimitz-class battle group. Above it, we have the generationally reliable B-52 bomber. They can rain lethality on anything within their range. Beneath the battle group, you have, lurking, a submarine that can launch without surfacing.

But the centerpiece of a Nimitz-class battle group, especially this one, is the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln is an aircraft carrier that is 1,092 feet long. It can carry 90 fixed- and rotary- winged aircraft. The Abraham Lincoln has two A-4 Westinghouse nuclear reactors. When it is fueled and it is sent out on a mission, it does not have to come back for 25 years. It is the centerpiece of American military prowess.

To borrow a term from where I grew up, you don't send the Abraham Lincoln if you are shucking. You send it when you are not bluffing. You don't send the Abraham Lincoln, Madam Speaker, unless you want to make a statement.

This is the ultimate in American military prowess. It has the ability to rain lethality unlike the human mind can imagine. This is the Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, a part of a battle group. It is the equivalent of sending a military base. You don't send it to bluff.

This is why we must be concerned. We have to be concerned because, if you send it because you are bluffing, Madam Speaker, you are playing with American military prowess; and if you send it because you are going to use it, you have to come to Congress. Congress has to give the word.

We don't play with this kind of lethality. There is a reality associated with this lethality that we cannot imagine. We have no way of predicting what can happen if we use this ultimate form of military force.

We obviously have it to defend ourselves and defend our allies. I don't object to the defensive nature of military action, but I am concerned if you send in this level of lethality because you are bluffing.

So I am calling on all Americans to please pay attention to what is happening in the Gulf region, and I am saying to my brethren and my sisters here in Congress: We are going to regret it if this level of lethality is being used and we did not exercise our duty, our obligation, and our responsibility to review impeachment of this President. We are going to regret it if it happens.

This is the ultimate in lethality. You don't send it because you are bluffing. It is time for us to do what we should do here in this Congress: require an Authorization for Use of Military Force; make sure that we play our role in this process. This is the Congress. We declare war. Don't let all of our authority be usurped by the executive branch.

We ought to have some sense of duty to what the Constitution requires of us. We see what is coming, and we are going to regret it if this ultimate in lethality is utilized in this Gulf region for a bluff that, unfortunately, was called.

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