[Peace-discuss] JFP: Tell Senators: Don't Cede Power to Trump in the Iran War Powers Debate

[Robert Naiman]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Just Foreign Policy <info at justforeignpolicy.org>
Date: Tue, Feb 11, 2020 at 10:30 AM
Subject: Tell Senators: Don't Cede Power to Trump in the Iran War Powers
Debate

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*Tell Senators: We Don't Need a Supermajority to End Unconstitutional
War  **Sign
the Petition
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=R%2FHuSDfnW5E3syRX0sorc2rTiH%2F0%2BqCP>
& Retweet
to Senate Dems
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=XaqClUOjaHk7t0RRehqa2mrTiH%2F0%2BqCP>*

Dear Robert,

The Senate is expected to vote this week, likely Thursday, on an Iran War
Powers Resolution led by Senator Tim Kaine
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=VwliZAEvH7eFOfplnyTAA2rTiH%2F0%2BqCP>,
opposing Trump’s threats to pursue hostilities with Iran that Congress has
never authorized, in violation of the Constitution. The Kaine Iran War
Powers resolution is expected to pass -- that’s great news and shows how
much progress we’ve made in reasserting Congress’s sole power to authorize
conflict abroad!

The Kaine Iran War Powers Resolution is a “joint resolution,” which means
that Trump can veto it, as he is likely to do. Last year, Trump vetoed the
similar Sanders-Lee-Murphy Yemen War Powers Resolution to prohibit
continued unconstitutional U.S. participation in the genocidal Saudi war in
Yemen. The Senate failed to muster 2/3 to override the veto, and Congress
has done nothing since to try to end the unconstitutional Yemen war.

But there’s another path given to Congress in the War Powers Resolution of
1973 besides the one Kaine is using to end an unconstitutional war, which
isn’t subject to presidential veto: the passage of a “concurrent
resolution.”

This is the path that Just Foreign Policy successfully urged House
leadership to use recently when it passed the Slotkin Iran War Powers
Resolution. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=cYMyD8eQ66SPWROXcD44jtl%2F2XRd%2BRw%2F>
and House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Eliot Engel
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dRV0QukWGUytP8KqX7AHHmrTiH%2F0%2BqCP>
noted during the House debate on the Slotkin Iran War Powers Resolution,
under Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which is the law
of the land, a concurrent war powers resolution is binding: it cannot be
vetoed by the president.

This distinction makes a big difference in our ability to end war:  if
we’re only allowed to use joint resolutions to try to end unconstitutional
wars, then we need a 2/3 majority of both chambers to override a
presidential veto. The framers of our Constitution did not intend to
require a supermajority to end war -- and we’re nowhere near to getting 2/3
of the Senate to vote against Trump on unconstitutional war right now.

If Senate Democrats were to concede this point, then they would effectively
concede that Congress can’t force the end of any wars as long as Trump is
President, and moreover that any future President can freely conduct
unconstitutional wars so long as we can’t muster 2/3 of both houses to
override the President’s veto.  This would enshrine endless war and is the
OPPOSITE of what the framers of our Constitution intended when they
assigned war powers to Congress.

This is urgent because our next step on Yemen will be to ask  Members of
the House to introduce a concurrent Yemen War Powers Resolution soon to
force a House floor vote on ending unconstitutional U.S. participation in
the genocidal Saudi war in Yemen. When the House votes on this bill, we
need the House Democratic leadership to assert strongly that Congressional
passage of the Yemen War Powers Resolution will be binding, just as they
did when they passed the Slotkin Iran War Powers Resolution.

That’s why Senators should not concede any ground on this point during the
coming Iran War Powers debate.  In particular, Senate Democrats who voted
just last week to remove Trump from office should not concede any ground to
the idea that Trump can continue an unconstitutional war until we can
muster 2/3 of both Houses of Congress to vote against it.

Sign our petition
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=mkCW4c%2FHbbSyddIg0%2BaquGrTiH%2F0%2BqCP>:
Urge Senators not to undercut House Democratic Leadership by making any
statements in the coming Iran War Powers debate asserting we need 2/3 of
both Houses of Congress to end an unconstitutional war

After you've signed, please retweet our tweet by clicking here
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=isoRGcPsyMfpS76Z3krcemrTiH%2F0%2BqCP>
.


Thank you for all you do to make U.S. foreign policy more just,

Erik Sperling, Sarah Burns, and the Just Foreign Policy Team

*If you think our work is important, please make a donation to support it.*



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