Providing for Consideration of H. Res. 292, Regarding Deployment of United States Armed Forces in Libya, and Providing for Consideration of H. Con. Res. 51, Libya War Powers Resolution

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, what we are confronted with today is not primarily a question of foreign policy or even of war policy. We are presented with a question of constitutional law and of the prerogatives of the United States Congress. Shall the President, like the King of England, be a dictator in foreign policy? Shall the President have the unfettered right to take this country to war without so much as a ``by your leave'' from Congress as the King of England could do without authorization from Parliament?

The authors of our Constitution answered that question in the negative. They said, ``No, we don't trust kings, we don't trust executives to make a decision to go to war. We want that to be the prerogative of the people as represented by the Congress.''

A whole series of Presidents since World War II have forgotten that, starting with Harry Truman in the Korean War and Lyndon Johnson in the Vietnam War right up to the present.

Now, there are reasons for this, and I will go into that when I speak on the Kucinich resolution a little later. I would simply observe now I am going to vote for the Boehner resolution, but I am also going to vote for the Kucinich resolution.

The Boehner resolution is fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't deal with the basic problem. The Boehner resolution says the President has failed to provide Congress with a compelling rationale based upon U.S. security interests for current United States military activities, that is true. Frankly, I do not understand why we are in Libya.

The Boehner resolution then says the President shall transmit to the House of Representatives all kinds of information, basically saying why we are there, and that's good. You should have done that before we went there, but it's good that we demand this information now. But then the Boehner resolution stops.

All it demands of the President is that he gives us his reasons. And his reasons, maybe we will agree with him, maybe we won't. Maybe they are sufficient, and maybe they are not.

Then it says, ``Findings.

``(a) The President has not sought, and Congress has not provided, authorization for the introduction or continued involvement of the United States Armed Forces in Libya.''

That's true.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. McGOVERN. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. NADLER. I thank the gentleman.

``(b) Congress has the constitutional prerogative to withhold funding for any unauthorized use of the U.S. Armed Forces, including for unauthorized activities regarding Libya.''

That's also true, but so what. It doesn't direct anything. It doesn't say that what the President did was outside his powers. It doesn't direct that the activity stop. It doesn't do anything. I think we should do something, because if in this situation we do not reclaim congressional powers, I can think of no set of circumstances under which the President cannot go to war without going to Congress first, no set of circumstances. And that turns the Constitution and the intentions of our Framers and the intentions of our whole constitutional law system on its head.

Therefore, I urge a vote of ``yes'' on the Boehner resolution and a vote of ``yes'' on the Kucinich resolution, which, unlike the Boehner resolution, actually does something about the situation we find ourselves in.

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