[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 13, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H228]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         WE NEED A NEW AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, we are now in our 6th month of war 
against ISIS, and make no mistake about it, we are at war in Iraq, 
though I do not recall a debate or a vote in this Chamber authorizing 
that.
  I would respectfully remind the President, who is well-versed in 
constitutional law, of something he already knows but appears unwilling 
to address: the executive is not permitted under the articles of the 
Constitution to unilaterally authorize military action in a situation 
that does not constitute an imminent threat.
  There is no doubt that ISIS is a depraved and repugnant organization, 
but our intelligence community has repeatedly said it does not 
imminently threaten the United States. Even if that assessment were to 
change following the horror we witnessed in Paris, we would still need 
a clear authorization and a serious debate about yet another American 
war in Iraq.
  I and several of my colleagues in both Chambers have been calling for 
such a debate since last August. In November, the President said he 
intended to work with the Congress to craft a new Authorization for Use 
of Military Force, or an AUMF, in the anti-ISIS campaign.
  Before it adjourned last year, the Senate Committee on Foreign 
Relations drafted and passed a new, if vague, AUMF against the Islamic 
State of Iraq and the Levant.
  Mr. Speaker, the 113th Congress abrogated its responsibility to 
acknowledge that the ongoing military campaign in Iraq and Syria cannot 
be sustained on the back of war powers notifications of two outdated 
AUMFs.
  The start of this new Congress is a perfect time to actually do 
something about this urgent need by debating and voting on something 
required of us 6 months ago. Over 3,000 American troops have been 
deployed to retrain Iraqi Army brigades that will allegedly be the new 
and improved force to take over against ISIS.
  The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff declined to say over the 
weekend how long this training would take, so the Prime Minister of 
Iraq volunteered a guess: 3 years. In 3 years, which seems awfully 
optimistic, Iraq may be able to rebuild and restructure its military.
  Does this mean 3 more years of coalition airstrikes, if we even have 
a coalition by then? Does that mean 3 more years of military advisers 
to train forces that will never be ready? Does that mean 3 more years 
of American troops sent out to reoccupy those decrepit bases that 
served as a stark reminder of the last time--more than 10 years ago--we 
went to war in Iraq without a strategy?
  Mr. Speaker, apparently, the reading of the Constitution on the House 
floor last week was gratuitous, since the Congress has no intention of 
following a key section of the Constitution. When it comes to war and 
peace, Mr. Speaker, the authority remains firmly with the Congress; yet 
we have sent our country's sons and daughters to war without a new 
bill, a serious debate, or a proper vote.
  Where is our sense of priority, reading the Constitution or obeying 
it? Where is our sense of responsibility? We have already had 6 months 
of unilateral war against ISIS. Another 3 years is intolerable.
  Mr. Speaker, it is up to you to invite the President to come up here 
and address this House, all 535 Members of Congress, to tell us what he 
needs and what he has decided is worth the sacrifice. It cannot be 
done, it should not be done, without an authorization from this 
Congress. To fail to do that is eroding to the very Constitution that 
we say we support in this House.
  We have a civilian control of the military, not by one man, but by 
535 Members of Congress. That is the way it is supposed to work. We 
need to have this debate now.

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