[Peace-discuss] Rand Paul threatens to hold up Senate till it agrees to vote on war powers resolution

[Robert Naiman]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 4:20 PM




[image: For Immediate Release: April 1, 2011][image: Contact: Gary Howard
202-224-4343]




Sens. Paul, Lee Issue Dear Colleague to Senate Leadership
*Letter requests vote on Sen. Paul’s sense of the Senate*

*WASHINGTON, D.C.* – Today, Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah)
issued a Dear Colleague letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The letter requests the
Senate take up the pending business of Sen. Paul’s sense of the Senate,
which quotes Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in 2007, saying “The President does
not have the power to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a
situation that does not involve an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”
Sens. Paul and Lee also outline their intention to object to further votes
on S. 493 amendments until the motion on presidential war authority is
scheduled for a vote.

“Establishing whether the President has the constitutional power to attack
another country without congressional authority is the most important issue
we can discuss given the President’s recent actions,” Sen. Paul said. “I
implore our Senate leadership to make this a priority before we continue
work on other matters in the chamber.”

“The President has failed to receive congressional authorization before
committing troops to a conflict that does not imminently threaten the
national security interests of the United States,” Sen. Lee said. “With our
men and women in harm's way, there is no more important matter on which to
focus the Senate's time. We should begin debate immediately."

Below is the text of the letter, signed by Sens. Paul and Lee, and delivered
to the Democrat and Republican Leaders’ offices this afternoon.



April 1, 2011

Dear Leader Reid and Leader McConnell:



As you know, Senator Paul recently made a motion to have the Senate vote on
the following sense of the Senate:



“The President does not have the power to unilaterally authorize a military
attack in a situation that does not involve an actual or imminent threat to
the nation.”



The motion Senator Paul made has the vote as the pending business in the
Senate, ready for a vote at any time. He did not ask for extended debate,
and his motion would take up a maximum of 30 minutes of the Senate’s time.



Though brief, it would be an important 30 minutes for the Senate. It will be
the only 30 minutes spent on discussing and voting on whether or not the
President has the power under the Constitution to attack another country
without congressional authorization.



We believe the answer is that he does not. We also believe Congress has an
obligation to stand up and declare whether or not we intend to hold the
President to his constitutional oath.



While we realize there are other matters the Senate had planned to work on,
it is our belief that there is very little we are doing that rises to the
level of a constitutional question regarding war. Voting for whether or not
to send our sons and daughters to war is the most important and most
difficult decision we should ever make as a nation and as senators. We do
not take this responsibility lightly, and we believe the Senate is
abdicating its responsibility at this very moment.



The bombing and military action against the Libyan government will be two
weeks old by the time we return to session next week. That means
congressional debate on this war is two weeks overdue.



We feel strongly enough about this matter that we are writing to inform you
of our intentions. The Senate has already agreed to move a bill on Tuesday
morning. In order to ensure our rights are protected, we will serve notice
now that upon completion of H.R. 4, we will object to further votes on
amendments to S. 493 until such time as the motion on presidential war
authority is scheduled for a vote. We are happy to work with the leaders of
both parties on the timing of the vote for next week, and would be happy to
allow other business to proceed as soon as an agreement is reached.



###









-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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