[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15857-15858]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE CONGRESS OF ABANDONED AUTHORITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, as it stands today, the 113th Congress will 
go down in history as the Congress of abandoned authority.
  With little exception, this Congress has failed to address the issues 
the American people sent us here to take on: tax reform, immigration, 
transportation infrastructure, climate change. This Congress has shown 
little progress, and in so doing, we have ceded more and more of our 
power as a legislature to the executive. Nowhere has our abandoned 
authority inflicted greater harm on Congress as an institution than our 
abdication of leadership in the fight against ISIS.
  The Constitution gives Congress, and Congress alone, the power to 
declare war. But while unilateral Executive action on every other issue 
has been met with partisan attacks, this Congress seems content with 
allowing the President to call the shots on military engagement with 
ISIS.
  Mr. Speaker, this abandoned authority must end. Before the end of the 
113th Congress, we must restore our constitutional authority over the 
Nation's war powers. We must commit to a full, open, and honest debate 
on an authorization for use of military force in the fight against 
ISIS.
  Our brave men and women are risking their lives, and we are afraid to 
even risk a vote. It is time for Congress to put some skin in the game. 
It is time for Congress to outline in clear terms the legal authority 
under which the U.S. will wage this war and, in so doing, future 
conflicts.
  The fact of the matter is that right now the U.S. is at war. From 
August 8 to November 12, we have spent an average of $8 million a day 
and $776 million in total on military operations to combat ISIS. As of 
October 23, the U.S. has conducted 632 airstrikes involving 6,600 
sorties dropping more than 1,700

[[Page 15858]]

bombs. We are at war with ISIS, and we are waging that war without 
congressional authorization.
  No one should doubt the inhumanity of ISIS. They pose a unique threat 
to the region, our allies, and the innocent civilians of Iraq and 
Syria. Left unchecked, the threat and reach of ISIS will grow. ISIS has 
made no secret of its plans to broaden its reach in the region and to 
attack Western nations, even threatening the homeland of the United 
States.
  The President was right to target and attack ISIS with our military 
assets and to begin to train local, on-the-ground forces, but this is 
just the start. As our Commander in Chief, I do believe the President 
has the legal authority to begin these military operations, but the 
authority to begin a military operation is not a substitute for the 
full legal authority required to continue military operations that must 
be debated here in the United States Congress.
  The President has said he welcomes a new AUMF, and we have debated 
repealing the Affordable Care Act more than five dozen times in this 
Congress. On ISIS though? On our wartime operations? On sending our 
brave men and women into harm's way? We continue to sit idly.
  We had a debate on the last-minute amendment to a temporary spending 
bill that authorized only one small piece of a larger overall strategy. 
That is not a true debate. That is certainly not a substitute for war 
authorization.
  Americans did not send us here for piecemeal amendments to last-
minute spending bills. You disagree with the President and think we 
shouldn't be arming Syrian rebels? Let's write an AUMF.
  You think we should be working towards a contingency plan in which 
American ground forces get involved? Let's write an AUMF.
  You think, as I do, that our fight against ISIS should have clear, 
defined goals and a timeline before we consider further authorization? 
Then let's write an AUMF.
  Mr. Speaker, I call on congressional leadership to take up this task. 
Your Members are ready for debate. The American people are ready for a 
debate. We simply have no excuse to let this opportunity pass us by.
  Let's step up to the plate. We should not end the 113th Congress 
without debating and passing an Authorization for Use of Military 
Force.

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