[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 86 (Thursday, May 18, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4351-H4355]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Lee) for 30 minutes.
General Leave
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, first, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
May 18, 2017, on page H4351, the following appeared: Ms. LEE.
Madam Speaker, first, I ask that all Members have 5 legislative
The online version has been corrected to read: Ms. LEE. Madam
Speaker, first, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5
legislative
========================= END NOTE =========================
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today, along with my colleagues, to
talk about restoring Congress' constitutional oversight on matters of
war and peace. I invite all of my colleagues to join me in demanding
that this House immediately repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of
Military Force.
Nearly 16 years ago, Congress passed an open-ended, blank check for
endless war. This authorization gives any President the authority to
wage limitless war at any time, anywhere, for any reason in perpetuity.
The vote to relinquish our constitutional authority occurred just 3
days after the horrific terrorist attacks on 9/11. The American
[[Page H4352]]
people were angry and anxious to take action.
Madam Speaker, I was just as outraged and devastated as every other
American, but I voted against this 2001 AUMF because I believed then--
as I believe now--that it was a blank check and set the stage for
perpetual war.
This House rushed to pass the 60-word authorization with little
debate. Sixty words, Madam Speaker, drastically altered history. In the
almost 16 years since its passage, the 2001 AUMF--which was designed,
mind you, to punish the perpetrators of the brutal and deadly attacks
on September 11--has been used now by three Presidents to wage endless
war around the globe. A recent report from the Congressional Research
Service shows that this authorization has been used more than 37 times
in 14 countries to justify military action.
{time} 1800
These include operations at Guantanamo Bay, warrantless wiretapping,
and recent military actions in Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and many
more. This report only looks at unclassified military actions.
I would like to now yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs.
Watson Coleman), who has been such a leader on so many issues,
especially around issues of our constitutional responsibility, issues
around war and peace.
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Congresswoman
for having this Special Order to address this issue and for continuing
to be such a leader on behalf of this great democracy that we have.
Although I was not in Congress when this AUMF was established, more
than 15 years later, it is clear this authorization is not designed for
this endless and perpetual war on terror.
I commend the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) for her bravery
and her unwavering stance for what is right.
Sadly, what the gentlewoman feared is now our reality. Just today,
U.S. forces participated in an airstrike against the Assad regime under
the umbrella of the same AUMF. This is just the latest example of this
virtual endless war we are able to wage in the Middle East and beyond.
As of January 2013, DOD reported 7,008 U.S. military deaths in the
war on terror in addition to the over 50,000 that have been wounded.
This does not include the huge numbers of civilians killed and families
that have been impacted by the U.S. military machine. This is
compounded by the harsh reality that, according to Pentagon statistics,
suicide, not combat, is the leading killer of U.S. troops deployed to
the Middle East to fight Islamic State militants. Between 2001 and
2010, the rate of suicide in the military has doubled.
When we decide to commit our troops to our mission, it needs to be
with clear goals and the explicit approval of Congress, approval that
aligns with the goals of the administration and the Commander in Chief.
Anything less puts personnel at risk, draining vital resources,
finances, and our military.
We are taking our military away from readiness everywhere. We are
making tactical and deliberate actions less feasible by spreading our
military capacity thin. We are not doing our job if we allow carte
blanche to any President to wage a nebulous war.
This is not just a bipartisan issue, this is an American issue.
I have voted against funding bills that maintain operations under the
2001 AUMF under the previous administration and feel no differently
today. Quite frankly, based on the actions of this President, I have
even less confidence that he has a reasonable and targeted plan to deal
with such a complex military issue.
We need a deliberate process. We need a new AUMF that establishes
strict parameters, attainable goals, and, most importantly,
accountability. There is a real cost here, a human cost here; so
whether it is an additional 1 or 1,000, our troops demand more, our
allies demand more, and this country of ours deserves more.
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs.
Watson Coleman) for that very powerful statement and also for reminding
us that this should not be a partisan issue.
With that, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), who has
been very diligent in his effort to repeal the 2001 Authorization for
Use of Military Force.
Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for
organizing this very important Special Order. This is something that
she has been a champion on. This is my third term, and we have been
talking about this for 4 years. Enough is enough. It is time to end
this.
I rise today in support of Congress reclaiming its authority under
Article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution. The United States
must have a clear strategy with well-defined goals to counter nonstate
actors like ISIS that threaten the United States. They threaten our
national security interests. We must also develop clear legal authority
for our military to take action against these groups. Ending the 2001
AUMF is a crucial part of that effort.
According to scholars at Brown University's Watson Institute of
International and Public Affairs, our government, our taxpayers, have
spent $4.8 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, paid for
almost entirely by borrowing.
As of today, 6,925 American soldiers have given their lives serving
our country in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, Operation
Enduring Freedom, Operation Inherent Resolve, and Operation Freedom's
Sentinel, according to the Department of Defense. But what about the
costs to take care of these young men and women for the next 60, 70,
and 80 years in our country?
While our brave men and women in uniform continue to fight in the
sands of Iraq and Syria and the mountains of Afghanistan, we have gone
through three Presidential administrations without a statement
articulating what victory is, except that ``terrorism must be
defeated.''
No one disagrees with that goal, but it is an uncertain way to order
our Nation's military posture and to commit our young men and women in
the military serving this Nation without a clear, defined goal. We have
been at war in Afghanistan for 16 years, yet the Taliban controls or
contests 40 percent of Afghan districts, according to the Special
Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
The U.S. intelligence community's worldwide threat assessment states
that ``the overall situation in Afghanistan will very likely continue
to deteriorate, even if international support is sustained,'' and that
``endemic state weaknesses, the government's political fragility,
deficiencies of the Afghan National Security Forces, Taliban
persistence, and regional interference will remain key impediments to
improvement.''
In addition to Afghanistan, the United States has also been involved
in Iraq, on and off, since 2003.
Dr. James Zogby of the Arab American Institute conducted a poll of
Iraqi public opinion in 2016, which found that 94 percent of Iraqis had
an unfavorable attitude about the United States. Ninety-four percent of
Iraqis polled say they do not think the U.S. contributes to peace and
stability in the Arab world.
We need a much clearer strategy for our men and women in uniform than
to tell them just to keep doing the same thing over and over again. We
all know what the definition of insanity is, and we need to do better
for them and for our partners around the world.
Our Nation has arrived at a historic and constitutional moment. Prior
to President Trump's inauguration, President Obama released a framework
outlining his administration's formal legal view on the use of military
force against Islamic terror groups around the globe. That report
relied heavily on the 2001 AUMF, which has been used to justify
numerous American military operations against an ever-expanding number
of terror groups, many of which have only slight links to the
perpetrators of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
In reality, our loose interpretation of the 2001 AUMF to have a
perpetual war against terror might as well be using the authorization
that Thomas Jefferson used to go after the Barbary pirates on the
shores of Tripoli the way this has been stretched over and over again.
It is unconscionable.
I hope that President Trump's administration will not continue to
rely
[[Page H4353]]
on that same legal framework but, rather, that he will formally ask
Congress to pass a new authorization with a clear directive of what
success is for the use of force that will not perpetually operate in
constitutional gray areas.
Strikes against groups like al-Shabaab in Somalia take place in
constitutional twilight zones where the Constitution's distribution of
authority to use force is uncertain, as Justice Jackson wrote in
Youngstown v. Sawyer.
To better preserve our Constitution's separation of powers structure,
Congress must make it a priority to develop clear legal authority for
American military action against Islamist terror organizations.
Further, such authorization should be structured so it will not turn
into the expanding grant of power like the 2001 AUMF has done.
If we fail to pass a new AUMF, it would do our servicemen and -women,
as well as the American public, a fundamental disservice. It would
prolong authorization of an endless war.
It is time to end the Middle East conflict. Let's end the
authorization of the 2001 AUMF. Right now, I fear that many of our
military operations do not have congressional authorization and do not
comply with the clear statement of Article I, section 8, clause 11 of
the Constitution that gives Congress the power to declare war.
To show our servicemen and -women we support them, to uphold the
Constitution, and for the good of our Nation, I hope we can work on the
passage of a new AUMF with deliberate speed.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman. Her commitment to this cause
is commendable.
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Yoho for his clear and
concise statement laying out how explicit the Constitution is as it
relates to matters of war and peace and how we must debate both if we
are going to continue to use force. We look forward to a bipartisan
effort this year to get us where we need to be, and that is to repeal
this authorization. I thank the gentleman.
Madam Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Engel), who is the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and
whom I served with on the committee for many years, and who really has
a very clear understanding of foreign and military policy and has been
such a leader on so many issues and someone on whom we rely on so many
fronts.
Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Lee. We are all
grateful to you for being so clear and so principled.
As I have often said, Congress must fulfill its constitutional
obligation to consider an updated AUMF, and as my colleagues said, that
stands for the Authorization for the Use of Military Force. Right now,
the administration is still using the authorization we passed after
September 11, 2001, in the legal justification to fight ISIS. That is
deeply problematic.
The 2001 AUMF has none of the limits many of us are seeking. We are a
Congress. We are not a rubber stamp to any President. We have a right
to vote on issues such as war and peace.
U.S. leadership to defeat ISIS is critical, but this doesn't require
a large-scale deployment of U.S. forces. With American leadership, we
were able to prevent the wholesale slaughter of the Yazidi people.
Iraqi partners were able to maintain control of the Mosul Dam, which,
if breached by ISIS, could have resulted in death and displacement of
up to 2 million people and endangered American personnel in Iraq. With
our support, local forces have taken back about 80 percent of the
territory from ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
So another large-scale, open-ended commitment of American troops is
certainly not the answer. The disastrous intervention in Iraq last
decade set the stage for the rise of ISIS in the first place. The 2001
AUMF has no limits at all on U.S. ground troops.
As troop levels continue to rise in the fight against ISIS, we just
cannot put our heads in the sand. We need to sit together as a
deliberative body and make these important decisions, not give any
President or any administration a blank check.
I am working on legislation to limit the authority Congress provided
after September 11. We need to tailor this authority to the threat we
face today. September 11 happened 16 years ago. We need new parameters
to define our mission and our goals. I voted for that AUMF 16 years
ago, but I never would have imagined that 16 years later it would still
be there and give a blank check to any President who would use it
anytime, anyplace, and to do anything. So we must fulfill our
constitutional responsibility and consider what an appropriate
authorization should include.
Using a 2001 authorization for a 2017 conflict sets a terrible
constitutional precedent. Congress has a vital constitutional
responsibility over America's war powers. This is one of the most
important decisions we are charged with making. When we fail to live up
to that responsibility, we weaken the balance of power that is the
bedrock of our democracy. Considering an updated AUMF is not easy, but
it is our job. We should do our job.
President Obama came to Congress well over a year ago with a proposed
AUMF. Not many people cared for it, but it was a proposed AUMF. We
could have changed it--it was a starting point--but we didn't do it. We
threw it away because it just got too hard. That cannot happen again.
Congress has a responsibility to do its part here, and,
unfortunately, we are not meeting that responsibility. We owe it to the
American people and we owe it our men and women in uniform to do our
job. Congressional inaction on an AUMF is inexcusable.
{time} 1815
I want to say that it a separate issue from the recent strikes
against Assad. Congress has made no authorization whatsoever for
sustained military action against Assad. The 60-day clock started
ticking when the President notified Congress of his missile strike.
The administration must come to Congress on that issue as well. There
cannot be long-term military action against Assad without Congressional
say-so.
Assad is a bad guy, and I think that he should be deposed, quite
frankly. I think that any future for Syria cannot include Assad, who
has murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people.
But whether the United States must involve itself in every single war
and ground troops using an outdated authorization for the use of force
just strikes me as being something that should not happen and will lead
us down a path in the future where we can't get out of it.
I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee). She has
always stood up for her beliefs, whether they seem popular or unpopular
when it happened. That is just the kind of people we want to serve in
Congress: someone who speaks out and has been a consistent fighter.
I am proud to join with her tonight, and I hope that more colleagues
on both sides of the aisle will understand that this is an important
constitutional principle. It is not a matter of who is in power, who is
the President, what party has the majority. As Americans and as
legislators, we should all be very concerned about giving any President
a blank check to go to war.
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Engel) for that very powerful statement and for really laying out
the fact that Congress is missing in action and that this resolution,
this AUMF, must be repealed so that we can move forward and make some
determinations as to what Congress' role will be and what we think
should happen in terms of our strategy as it relates to going to war.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) for
being here tonight and I thank him for his leadership and his
expertise.
Madam Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Jones), who has been a friend, a supporter, who constantly is talking
about why we need to protect our troops, support our troops, keep them
out of harm's way, support our veterans. He is a great American, and I
have the pleasure of working with him on so many issues.
Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for
the leadership and also this opportunity. I could not agree more with
where we are and why we are on the floor tonight.
[[Page H4354]]
If you believe in the Constitution, which the majority of us do
because we raise our hands when we are sworn in, then we need to do our
constitutional responsibility. What has been said tonight by my
colleagues and will be ended by the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Lee) in just a few minutes is the fact that we do not do our
constitutional duty or responsibility.
The 2001 AUMF to talk about going after Osama bin Laden after 9/11,
meaning Afghanistan, made sense. The AUMF in 2002 should have never
passed this House. I regret that I voted for it because Iraq was an
unnecessary war. But that is history now.
What we are talking about is learning from history and dealing with
the present and the future. Therefore, there is no reason that the
leadership of the House, Mr. Ryan, will not permit the committees of
jurisdiction to bring forward a new AUMF. It could be a blanket AUMF or
it could mean Syria or maybe Afghanistan.
I have joined with colleagues on the other side, including the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), to put in H.R. 1666 that says,
after 16 years, there needs to be a debate on the future involvement of
the American people and the military into Afghanistan.
We have 300 Members of Congress sitting on the floor day in and day
out who have never been part of a debate or a vote on the future of
Afghanistan. After 16 years, $800 billion spent, 2,000 Americans killed
and 20,000 wounded, if we do not have a debate on whether we stay in
Afghanistan or we talk about coming home, then our leadership in the
House are not doing their constitutional duty either.
Madam Speaker, tonight I wanted to be very supportive, as I will be.
The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) and I have been on each
other's bills as it deals with Syria, Afghanistan, or Iraq. It is time
for us to demand from our leadership--I do not blame the Presidents,
whether it be Trump or Obama, I do not blame them, because it is our
responsibility.
James Madison was very clear, and I am going to paraphrase very
quickly. It is the legislative branch that will debate and declare war,
not the executive branch. What we have done with these AUMFs from 2001
and 2002, we have abdicated our responsibilities.
I know how the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) feels, and all
those who spoke tonight and those who are not here tonight to speak,
how we all feel. But it is up to us to demand from our leadership.
Don't wait for a President to give direction, because Madison was very
clear. It is our responsibility.
Madam Speaker, I have written five or six letters to Mr. Ryan, the
Speaker of the House. I have written him additional letters with my
colleagues on the other side asking him to permit us to meet our
constitutional responsibility. At this point we have had no luck, and I
am asking Mr. Ryan tonight, the Speaker of the House, to direct the
committees of jurisdiction to come forward with one of these bills that
have been introduced by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) and
other Members of the Democratic Party and those of us in the Republican
Party to come forward and let's have a refresher course, so to speak,
on the constitutional responsibility.
I have Camp Lejeune Marine Base in my district. I talked to marines
as recently as 2 weeks ago. One has been five times to Afghanistan. He
said it is not worth a dime to be there. We are spending billions and
billions of dollars, and kids still getting killed.
I have signed over 10,000 letters to families and extended families
who have lost loved ones because I knew I should never have voted to go
into Iraq. That is my mistake, and I am living with my mistake. But
what I am trying to do now is to join you and others to say we have a
constitutional responsibility to debate war. If we are going to send
our young men and women to die in war, we need to debate it.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Lee) for this opportunity. I look forward to working with her as we go
forward. I think we really need to put pressure on the leadership to
allow us to meet our responsibilities. I thank the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Lee) for giving me this opportunity to be here with my
colleagues.
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Jones) for his statement tonight and for his leadership. I think,
listening to him, listening to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho),
and working with our colleagues in a bipartisan way, you know, we have
to keep hope alive on this because our young men and women, our
Constitution, our country, deserves it. You have been here from the
beginning in terms of trying to help put Congress back into action
because we have been missing in action.
Madam Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from California (Mr.
Khanna), my colleague from the Silicon Valley, right next door to my
district, who has come to Congress and has hit the ground running. He
is a true advocate on so many issues as it relates to peace and justice
and security.
Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Lee) for her vision in making sure Congress votes on matters of
war and peace.
When we were attacked, after 9/11, I, like many Americans, supported
strikes on the people who attacked us. But no one in this country would
have thought that a resolution would be used for perpetual war.
Madam Speaker, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) had the
courage back then and the foresight to stand up with courage and stand
up against a resolution that has provided a blank check for the last 16
years. I do believe that that is the type of political courage that one
day will be remembered in history, and I applaud the gentlewoman for
that.
We have seen that, since 2001, the terrorists, which were contained
on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, have spread. They have spread to
the Middle East. They have spread to Africa. And it is about time that
we ask: What have all these interventions gotten us?
And this is not a partisan issue, as the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Lee) has mentioned and as the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Jones) just articulated. It goes back to our founding principles of
John Quincy Adams, an early President who said: ``We ought not to go
overseas to slay monsters.''
And he said the reason we shouldn't do that is we should give people
who seek freedom our voice and our prayers; but if we go out to destroy
monsters, we actually will be seen not as a liberating force, but as a
dictatorial force because we often won't know who the truly freedom-
seeking people are.
I wish every Member of Congress, every Senator would read John Quincy
Adams' insight so that we had more restraint.
Consider the issue of Afghanistan, where 40 percent of the country is
not under our control. And here is the thing: I know this region. I was
born here. But being of South Asian origin, on the Pakistan-India
border, where there are 3,000 terrorists, there are 150,000 troops to
take care of that.
Does anyone think sending 10,000 troops again and again has
accomplished anything?
It has not. All it is doing is further antagonizing people and
putting our troops at risk.
Then when we called for regime change in 2011 with Syria and Assad,
we made Syria a magnet for terrorist groups. Now in Yemen, where we are
aiding the Saudi Arabian Government, which is aligned, ironically, with
al-Qaida, and al-Qaida, which has claimed responsibility for the shoe
bomber and the underwear bomber in this country, we are aiding and
intervening in a place where we are actually supporting groups that are
harming us.
All the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) is saying is we ought
to debate these issues, that the American people ought to know what
these interventions are getting us; why they are not making us more
safe and why we are not having a thoughtful policy.
Madam Speaker, I applaud the gentlewoman from California's (Ms. Lee)
vision and I applaud her leadership. I know that history will vindicate
her.
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California
(Mr. Khanna) for those kind words, but also for his clarity and his
vision and understanding that we must repeal this authorization to use
force and put Congress back in the mix where we should have been from
day one. I want to
[[Page H4355]]
thank him again very much for being here.
Madam Speaker, may I ask how much time I have left.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee)
has 1 minute remaining.
Ms. LEE. I will close now. Once again, I ask our Speaker a very
simple question, and that is why he has not scheduled a debate on this
vital issue that affects our national security.
We asked over and over again for a vote to repeal this authorization.
We want a debate and we want to have a new vote based on the current
realities of what is taking place as it relates to the use of force by
our own government.
In February of 2015, Congressman Eliot Engel mentioned that President
Obama sent to Congress an ISIS-specific AUMF, and it was never taken
up. There were no actions, no hearings, no formal debate. Not one vote.
We have a new President that is continuing to use the outdated 2001
AUMF in expanded ways, including justifying sending more troops to
fight ISIS in Syria and spending more taxpayer dollars on war and
putting our young men and women in harm's way.
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank all of the Members who were here
last night. Let's hope that this discussion will help more Members come
to the floor and talk about why we need the Speaker to bring up the
bill to repeal the authorization to use force.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________