[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15844]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AMENDMENT TO THE WAR POWERS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, well, last weekend I was shocked to read 
the statements of the Republican chair of the Foreign Relations 
Committee in the Senate, Senator Corker. He said that, ``Trump has put 
us on the path to World War III.''
  This makes it essential that Congress assert its full powers under 
the Constitution of the United States.
  In reaction to Nixon's secret bombing of Cambodia and the aftermath, 
Congress passed something called the War Powers Act. Unfortunately, 
there was a dispute between the two bodies, and, ultimately, the Senate 
prevailed and watered down the bill.
  Instead of saying, ``Before the President engages our troops in 
hostilities, that he or she must come to the Congress,'' instead, the 
bill ultimately adopted saying, ``48 hours after the President has 
engaged our troops in hostilities, he or she must report to the 
Congress and then seek subsequent authorization, or the troops would be 
withdrawn after 60 days.''
  I have introduced legislation in this and preceding Congresses to fix 
that. That clearly does not represent the constitutional powers of the 
United States Congress. The Constitution is absolutely clear. Only 
Congress has the authority to declare war. Once war is declared, the 
President, under the Constitution, is the Commander in Chief and would 
act with one voice to conduct the war and coordinate military efforts.
  So my bill would say--do away with the allowance of 48 hours and say: 
Before engaging U.S. troops and military in hostilities, that the 
President must first come to the Congress and seek a declaration of 
war. I think it is absolutely essential that this Congress act on this 
legislation and make it clear to the President of the United States 
that he does not have the authority to wake up one morning and tweet of 
an attack against another country and engage these people in an 
escalation that may end, as Senator Corker says, in World War III.
  This is a very dangerous time for our country. It is time for this 
separate and equal branch of the government to assert its full 
authority to rein in any and all dangerous activities by this 
President.

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