Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Our war making in the Middle East

Our Constitution names one of the Article I powers of Congress as "To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to the Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years". By this provision, the framers of the Constitution wanted Congress to have the power to stop funding a war, and to be able to limit the prosecution of a war, once authorized by Congress, to two years - at which time there shall be a debate on whether or not to continue the war. If not, then the money would be cut off. So, two points, (1) this provision should be invoked in the debate over the 17 year old AUMF, and assert Congress' prerogative to stop funding our military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, and (2) let's keep this in mind when a president tries to move funds appropriated for other purposes to military activities. If that is allowed, it not only violates the Constitution, it takes away Congress' proper leverage to limit the executive branch's war making. Isn't it past time to repeal the AUMF, and maybe invoke the provision noted above to get it done? Think about this as you ponder the recent action in Iran.