[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 5971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AUTHORIZED USE OF MILITARY FORCE

  (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to challenge this House to live up 
to our constitutional duty to debate the ongoing war in the Middle 
East.
  For nearly 2 years, our brave servicemen and -women have been 
fighting yet another war. As they face snipers and mortar rounds, 
incredibly, some claim that they are not in combat.
  How can we claim this is not combat? And, worse, how can we ask them 
to go to war when Congress cannot muster the courage to debate it and 
authorize it or not?
  The last four Presidents have bombed the Middle East with little or 
no congressional oversight. Will we allow a fifth President to continue 
these wars unchecked?
  As the National Defense Authorization Act comes to the floor next 
week, I submitted an amendment to force a debate on this war and repeal 
the 2001 blank check for endless war that got us into these perpetual 
wars.
  As you can see, the Congressional Research Service has indicated that 
this 2001 resolution has been used over 37 times. These are some of the 
areas in which that has been used. That is just wrong.
  The Rules Committee should allow this important debate to come to the 
House floor.
  Mr. Speaker, let us debate this war, its costs, its consequences, and 
talk about a real strategy to end ISIL's reign of terror.

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