[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 104 (Thursday, June 20, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H4924-H4925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WAR POWERS RESIDE IN THE U.S. CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Kendra S. Horn of Oklahoma). The Chair 
recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. And still I rise, Madam Speaker, because I love 
my country and because I have reason to be concerned, and I believe 
that every American has reason to be concerned about the issue that I 
shall address today.
  Those of us who are in the House of Representatives should be 
especially concerned because the issue involves war and peace. It 
involves the sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. America--war and peace.
  We have, by and through our Chief Executive Officer, the President of 
the United States of America, caused a Nimitz-class battle group to go 
into the Gulf region.
  For those who do not know, this is the ultimate expression of 
American military prowess, a Nimitz-class battle group. Above it, we 
have the generationally reliable B-52 bomber. They can rain lethality 
on anything within their range. Beneath the battle group, you have, 
lurking, a submarine that can launch without surfacing.
  But the centerpiece of a Nimitz-class battle group, especially this 
one, is the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln is an aircraft 
carrier that is 1,092 feet long. It can carry 90 fixed- and rotary-
winged aircraft. The Abraham Lincoln has two A-4 Westinghouse nuclear 
reactors. When it is fueled and it is sent out on a mission, it does 
not have to come back for 25 years. It is the centerpiece of American 
military prowess.
  To borrow a term from where I grew up, you don't send the Abraham 
Lincoln if you are shucking. You send it when

[[Page H4925]]

you are not bluffing. You don't send the Abraham Lincoln, Madam 
Speaker, unless you want to make a statement.
  This is the ultimate in American military prowess. It has the ability 
to rain lethality unlike the human mind can imagine. This is the 
Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, a part of a battle 
group. It is the equivalent of sending a military base. You don't send 
it to bluff.
  This is why we must be concerned. We have to be concerned because, if 
you send it because you are bluffing, Madam Speaker, you are playing 
with American military prowess; and if you send it because you are 
going to use it, you have to come to Congress. Congress has to give the 
word.
  We don't play with this kind of lethality. There is a reality 
associated with this lethality that we cannot imagine. We have no way 
of predicting what can happen if we use this ultimate form of military 
force.
  We obviously have it to defend ourselves and defend our allies. I 
don't object to the defensive nature of military action, but I am 
concerned if you send in this level of lethality because you are 
bluffing.
  So I am calling on all Americans to please pay attention to what is 
happening in the Gulf region, and I am saying to my brethren and my 
sisters here in Congress: We are going to regret it if this level of 
lethality is being used and we did not exercise our duty, our 
obligation, and our responsibility to review impeachment of this 
President. We are going to regret it if it happens.
  This is the ultimate in lethality. You don't send it because you are 
bluffing. It is time for us to do what we should do here in this 
Congress: require an Authorization for Use of Military Force; make sure 
that we play our role in this process. This is the Congress. We declare 
war. Don't let all of our authority be usurped by the executive branch.
  We ought to have some sense of duty to what the Constitution requires 
of us. We see what is coming, and we are going to regret it if this 
ultimate in lethality is utilized in this Gulf region for a bluff that, 
unfortunately, was called.

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