[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 183 (Tuesday, December 8, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H13605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    REQUIRE THE PRESIDENT TO WITHDRAW FROM AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, this morning I stood before this House 
and pointed out that The Nation magazine did an investigation that 
showed that U.S. tax dollars were going to U.S. contractors who then 
gave the Taliban money so that the Taliban wouldn't attack a shipment 
of U.S. goods to U.S. troops. And of course U.S. troops would use those 
resources to attack the Taliban.
  The war in Afghanistan is a racket. We have a strategy to pay off 
insurgents, warlords, the Taliban, in pretending that somehow this 
practice is going to help make an already corrupt central government 
more stable. I have been in this House now for seven terms, and I have 
seen the slow and steady erosion of the Constitution of the United 
States and, in particular, congressional authority with respect to 
article 1, section 8 of the Constitution, which very explicitly puts 
the power to create war in the hands of the United States Congress, not 
in the hands of the executive.
  When the Founders crafted the Constitution, they were very clear that 
they did not want a monarchy. They wanted to what was called ``restrain 
the dogs of war'' by placing the power to commit men and women into 
combat in the hands of an elected Congress, in this case in the hands 
of the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, over a few generations, 
we have seen that power of Congress erode.
  Today, according to ABC News, Hamid Karzai, the President of 
Afghanistan, in a joint press conference with Secretary of Defense 
Robert Gates, said that his country's security forces will need 
financial and training assistance from the United States for the next 
15 to 20 years.
  Now, since we're already spending at least $100 billion to $150 
billion a year in Afghanistan, we are now committed, through Mr. 
Karzai, we're embarked on a strategy that could lead us to spend $2 
trillion, maybe more.
  We've had speakers precede me today speak about the need for jobs in 
the United States. It goes without saying we should start taking care 
of things here instead of endeavoring to pour our resources into a 
corrupt administration, and furthermore, engage in a kind of corruption 
through trying to pay off warlords and even the Taliban to create 
shipments to our troops.

  As President Obama prepares to escalate military operations in 
Afghanistan and Pakistan, we must reinstate our prerogative as it 
relates to war. The United States has been involved in military 
action--both in Afghanistan and Pakistan--since the inception of this 
administration despite the fact that the President has never submitted 
a report to Congress pursuant to section 4(a)(1) of the War Powers 
Resolution.
  Madam Speaker, when Congress returns in 2010, I intend to bring to 
the floor of the House privileged resolutions reasserting this 
congressional prerogative. My bills will trigger a timeline for timely 
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Pakistan, invoke the War 
Powers Resolution of 1973, and secure the constitutional role of 
Congress as directly elected representatives of the people under 
article 1, section 8 of the Constitution for Congress to decide whether 
or not America enters into a war or continues a war or otherwise 
introduces Armed Forces or materials into combat zones.
  Despite the President's assertion that previous congressional action 
gives him the authority to respond to the attacks of September 11, 
2001, a careful reading of the authorization of military force makes 
clear that this authorization did not supersede any requirement of the 
War Powers Resolution and therefore did not undermine Congress' ability 
to revisit the constitutional question of war powers at a later date.
  We will have an opportunity in this House in January to vote on this 
issue of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and I urge my colleagues to join the 
resolution, which I'll begin to circulate the notice of starting 
tomorrow.
  Thank you.

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