[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 6, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H1216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE CONSTITUTION AND WAR

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. The father of our Constitution, James Madison, wrote, 
``The Constitution expressly and exclusively vests in the legislature 
the power of declaring a state of war. The separation of the power 
declaring war from conducting it is wisely contrived to exclude the 
danger of its being declared for the sake of its being conducted.''
  As we begin the process of hearing resolutions down the hall of this 
Capitol in the United States Senate, nonbinding resolutions over the 
way and the manner in which we would conduct our war, we would do well 
to reflect on the wisdom of our Founders, who separated the article I 
powers of this body from the article II powers of our Commander in 
Chief.
  Let us remember, as Franklin Roosevelt said, ``Hostilities exist, 
there is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our 
interests are in grave danger.'' Let this grave danger color our 
debates. Provide the oversight that is our purview, but we have but one 
Commander in Chief, and let him lead us to victory in Iraq.

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