Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. 68, Authorizing Limited Use of Armed Forces in Libya; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2278, Limiting Use of Funds for Armed Forces in Libya
Floor Speech
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Mr. NADLER. I thank the gen tle lady for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Hastings resolution and in support of the Rooney resolution.
This morning's paper, The New York Times, says that this is a dangerous resolution because it would allow the financing only for American surveillance, search and rescue missions, planning and aerial refueling. It would halt drone strikes and attacks on Libyan air defenses, and it would damage the Nation's credibility in its leadership of NATO.
Mr. Speaker, I think that the Nation's credibility--that is to say its promise to go to war if backed by the President and not by Congress--ought to be damaged. We have been sliding for 70 years into a situation where Congress has nothing to do with the decision about whether to go to war or not, and the President is becoming an absolute monarch. We must put a stop to that right now if we don't want to become an empire instead of a Republic. This country was set up to be a Republic where the basic questions of war and peace are supposed to be answered by this Congress. Because of the exigencies of the Cold War, if the bombers are coming over the Pole, you don't have time to call Congress. We lost a lot of that power. We ceded it to the President.
But in a situation such as Libya, whether the reasons for going there are good or ill, the fact is there was no imminent threat to the United States, and the Secretary of Defense said that. There was plenty of time to negotiate with the Arab League, and there was plenty of time to go to the U.N. There should have been time to have, not consultations with Congress, but the authorization from Congress. In the absence of that authorization, we have to put our foot down now and say ``no.'' If foreign countries learn that they cannot depend on American military intervention unless Congress is aboard for the ride, good. That's a good thing.
The power of the Presidency--and I'm not talking about this President--as was said by Charles James Fox in 1780, the power of the Crown, in this case the power of the President, has increased, is increasing and ought to be diminished. This country's power to go to war or not must reside here except in extreme and urgent emergencies. It is time to put our foot down now by passing that resolution.
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