[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 171 (Wednesday, November 30, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6596-S6597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  USE OF MILITARY FORCE AUTHORIZATION

  Mr. SASSE. Mr. President, I had not intended to speak today. I was 
presiding in the chair, but I simply want to take one minute to 
associate myself with the comments of the Senator from Virginia, Mr. 
Kaine, who just spoke about our war against ISIS.
  I think two points he said are worth underscoring for us in this 
body:
  No. 1, we are obviously at war with ISIS. We should acknowledge that 
we are at war with ISIS.
  No. 2, why is it important that we do this? It is important for the 
troops who are at war for us to acknowledge the reality of the fact 
that we are at war. It is important for their families. It is important 
for debate and deliberation in this body and in the country more 
broadly. And, frankly, it is important for the future of this body to 
honor a constitutional intent that distinguishes between Article I, the 
legislature, and Article II, the Executive.
  In the American system, in Madison and the other Founders' genius, 
they recognized that many foreign wars have not made sense in human 
history because Executives get wrapped up in war without broader 
deliberation about the consequences of their actions.
  To be clear, we should absolutely be at war with ISIS, and we are at 
war with ISIS. But in the American constitutional system, it is the 
obligation of the 535 of us who serve in the Congress--and particularly 
the 100 who serve in the Senate--to represent our people and to have 
this debate before the people about the fact that we are at war with 
ISIS.
  Then, the Commander in Chief, as Chief Executive, should prosecute 
that war in a way that the American people know has the sanction and 
the validation of both branches and of all the people across 50 States.
  This is not the action of one President acting unilaterally. It is a 
bad precedent to set for us to continue to drift and to remain at war 
now 15 years post the authorization that was against the perpetrators 
of the 9/11 attack, now using that old authorization to conduct

[[Page S6597]]

a war, now on a second continent--now in Africa as well--but without 
any current discussion or authorization.
  The use of military force is something that should be deliberated 
about in this body. I again want to associate myself with the comments 
of the Senator from Virginia that, given that we are at war with ISIS, 
we should formally be declaring war against ISIS.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). The Senator from Wyoming.

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