[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10575]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   LIBYA OPERATION UNIFIED PROTECTOR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Burton) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I came down here today to talk 
about the Libya issue, the war that supposedly is not a war, but I 
wanted to start off by talking a little bit about the rhetoric that's 
coming out of the White House and from the President.
  I was watching the news this morning, and the President indicated 
that they were going to have these budget talks down at the White House 
today. And he said, and I quote, that the Republicans, in effect, have 
a gun to the head of the American people. That just isn't the kind of 
rhetoric that should be used right now when we're talking about the 
huge budget deficits we have. And if I were talking to the President, I 
would try to admonish him to not do that in the future.
  And then, when we were talking about Libya, I think it was just about 
4 or 5 days ago, he said that we in Congress are making Libya a cause 
celebre, indicating that it's not an important issue, and we're just 
trying to puff it up so that we can make political points.

                              {time}  1100

  The fact of the matter is it is a war. The President went to the Arab 
League, he went to the French, the English, he went to the United 
Nations, and NATO and decided that he was going to be involved in an 
attack on Libya and Muammar Qadhafi. But the one place he didn't come 
to to talk about this issue was the Congress of the United States--the 
House of Representatives and the Senate. The first place that a 
President ought to go if he thinks we ought to go into a conflict of 
any kind is the Congress.
  The Constitution is very clear on the responsibilities of the 
President before he goes into a conflict. It has to be a threat to the 
United States, a threat to our interests, and it has to be approved by 
the Congress of the United States. The Congress of the United States is 
the only body that can declare war. He can't do that. He can manage a 
war. He is the Commander in Chief once we go into war, but he can't 
start a war unless it's in our national interest or there's a threat to 
the United States. That was clarified by the War Powers Act during the 
Nixon administration because there was some question about the latitude 
a President might have using the Constitution.
  The Constitution was explained very carefully in the 1970s in the War 
Powers Act. Now, that's never been tested in the courts. Some people 
say it's unconstitutional. But the fact of the matter is it's the law 
of the Nation. The President cannot violate the law or the 
Constitution, and in our opinion, he's violated both.
  Let me just tell you what's going on in this war that the President 
says is not a war.
  We have flown almost 30 percent of the sorties. That means we have 
flown 3,475 flights into the combat area. We have dropped bombs and 
missiles 132 times on targets, and several times we've hit civilians.
  Nobody likes Muammar Qadhafi. Nobody wants him in office. But the 
fact of the matter is, we've been involved in a war to get rid of him.
  On May 22, the figure was that of the missiles that were fired, there 
were 246 missiles fired, and 228 were the United States' missiles--at 
$1.1 million per missile. And we're paying approximately 60 or 70 
percent of the total cost of this conflict through NATO or directly 
from the taxpayers of the United States.
  Now, the reason I came down here today is to say that we should not 
be in that conflict because it was not in our national interest and 
there was no threat to the United States and it was a violation of the 
Constitution and the War Powers Act.
  The President said he had to do it because it was a humanitarian 
issue. If it was a humanitarian issue and we really needed to go in 
there, he should have come to Congress. The previous President, 
President Bush, did go to Congress on Afghanistan and Iraq to get 
approval before he did it, but President Obama decided to do this 
unilaterally. So we are in a war now, and it's costing the taxpayers 
close to a billion dollars in a war that we should not be in.
  He said it was for humanitarian purposes. If that's the case, we 
ought to be in a war in the Ivory Coast. Right now in the Sudan, there 
are thousands and thousands of people being executed and killed. And if 
that's the case, we ought to be in the Sudan. In Syria, we all know 
what's going on in Syria right now. If that's the case, we ought to be 
in Syria. There are wars of opportunity every place.
  I just like to end, Mr. Speaker, by saying this: The President should 
always come to the Congress if it's in our national interest or a 
threat to this country before he goes to war. It's constitutionally 
required.

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