THE US CONGRESS IS “CHICKEN” ABOUT DOING THEIR LAWFUL DUTY

…The do-nothing House of Representatives

 

We elect them, and then they refuse to do their jobs.

 

Are you aware of what is referred to as the AUMF?  That’s the Authorization for the Use of Military Force that was first passed in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks that eventually authorized the then President Bush to invade Iraq.

 

Yes, this was the war authorization that has been over-used for going after Osama, the Taliban in Afghanistan, al Qaeda and now ISIL or “Daesh”.

 

For months, there has been many discussions for getting a new or updated AUMF.  Last April, President Obama had presented and requested a new authorization for his use of military force, but it did not get approved because it could not obtain the 218 votes needed to pass the lower chamber.

 

The problems with getting this new authorization is still occurring because neither party can come up with a plan that is acceptable for how much war-power the nation’s chief executive should have within this authorization.

 

The new House Speaker, Paul Ryan endorsed the idea that Congress should hold a vote on the war against the Islamic State.  In fact, in a recent interview, Ryan said it’s Congress’ constitutional responsibility to declare wars, and that debating and voting on a new AUMF would send the signal that the US is united in the fight against Daesh.  “It would be a good sign for American foreign policy to have a new one updating our AUMF to declare our mission, with respect to ISIS,” Ryan said. “I think that would be good for putting America in an offensive posture.  The question is, can we write an AUMF the president will sign where he’s not going to handcuff the next president, and can we get consensus on how to do that?” Ryan asked.

 

Unfortunately, regarding the Obama proposal, the Democrats were concerned about getting bogged down in another protracted conflict in the middle-east.  They have thought it was too open ended and didn’t place strict enough limits on the president’s war-making authority.

 

 

But on the other end, the Republican hawks thought it placed too many limits on the president’s authority. As Ryan has suggested, Republicans don’t want to “handcuff” the next president (who could be a Republican). Thus, Ryan correctly identifies the challenge, but he did seem open to trying to figure out how to meet it.

 

Senators Tim Kaine (a Democrat) together with Jeff Flake (a Republican) have offered their own bipartisan version of an AUMF that seeks to straddle partisan differences.  Unfortunately, it’s a little to “loosey-goosey” as it leaves too many open avenues for different interpretations on what the president’s actual war-making powers would be.

 

Rep. Adam Schiff, a key foreign policy voice among House Democrats, has his own version of a draft AUMF that also seeks to solve the problem. It would do this by granting the administration the authority to wage war for the next few years against the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and any other terrorist organizations, provided they are a “co-belligerent” against America. That’s a fairly broad authority (which should please Republicans) but also significantly more limited than what’s going on today (which should please Democrats)..  That is beacuse today they are still relying on the old 2001 AUMF. 

 

However, so far, even Representative Schiff’s proposal has gone nowhere.

 

As of today, a Congressional vote on the war still remains highly unlikely.

 

In his latest remarks, Ryan now expresses skepticism that any AUMF can pass the current Congress. As the Huffington Post reports, even Senate leader Mitch McConnell is very cool to the idea and the reality is that many lawmakers have become hesitant and might not want to vote on the war at all.

 

Based on all the Republican hawks in the last Republican presidential debate, the GOP presidential candidates are on the other end and seem to want the campaign to be all about who would be toughest on the Islamic State, terrorism, and national security.

 

Yet, the do-nothing US Congress doesn’t seem to want to deal with the question, regardless of who is going to be in the White House after President Obama.

 

Once again, it appears that the lower house doesn’t have the cojones to stop using a 14 year old authorization that has out-lived it usefulness.  So, here we sit, showing the world that the United States isn’t serious about dealing with a war conflict that we had no problem in starting in the first place.

 

It is so sad that those that are given the responsibility for doing the people’s business, seem only interested in collecting their congressional paychecks and to work as few days as possible during their days in office.

 

Copyright G.Ater 2015