Stepping up a simmering constitutional conflict, House Speaker John A. Boehner warned President Obama on Tuesday that unless he gets authorization from Congress for his military deployment in Libya, he will be in violation of the War Powers Resolution.
In a letter sent Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Boehner, the top Republican in the constitutional chain of succession, said Mr. Obama must provide a clear justification for committing troops to Libya by Friday. Sunday marks the 90th day since the president notified Congress that U.S. troops had been committed to help enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, which is designed to protect the rebels fighting Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s government.
In a letter sent Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Boehner, the top Republican in the constitutional chain of succession, said Mr. Obama must provide a clear justification for committing troops to Libya by Friday, which marks the 90th day since the president committed U.S. troops, and the clock started ticking under the War Powers Resolution.
“The Constitution requires the president to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’ and one of those laws is the War Powers Resolution, which requires an approving action by Congress or withdrawal within 90 days from the notification of a military operation,” Mr. Boehner said in the letter.
The White House has repeatedly said it has complied with the law by alerting Congress to the initial deployment, and by providing follow-up briefings about the pace and extent of U.S. troops’ commitment.
But the administration has never sought approval from Congress.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, but makes the president commander-in-chief — and those dueling roles have caused tension throughout the nation’s history.
Two weeks ago the House passed a non-binding resolution that urged Mr. Obama to provide detailed information on the deployment. Mr. Boehner at the time signaled that Congress might cut off funding for the deployment in Libya if the administration didn’t comply.
(Source: Washington Times)
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8 Responses
Does the YWN purposefully choose terrible looking pictures of people they don’t agree with? this picture of the President is awful as was yesterday’s photo of Carl Krueger
Former Pres. Bush threw Al-Queida out of Afghanistan.
Pres. Hussein Obama is making it up to them by giving them Libya instead.
Republicans used to be pretty unanimous that the War Powers Resolution was unconstitutional. When did that change?
Does anyone else see how the third paragraph is a repeat of the second paragraph…???
No. 4: It appears that an editor fell asloop while editing this article. I understand that can happen, as I once made a mistake.
More significant: It is creepy that the second (and third) paragraphs identify Mr. Boehner as “the top Republican in the constitutional chain of succession”? No doubt Mr. Boehner made his comments because he is Speaker of the House of Representatives, not because he is the second successor to the president if the office of the president is vacated. And there is no constitutional requirement that there be any Republican in the chain of succession. Hopefully, we can fix that with the next election.
No. 3: Your statement is correct, and the answer to your question is simple. It changes whenever the Republicans do not have control of the White House.
Does anyone else see how the third paragraph is a repeat of the second paragraph…???
obama doesn’t believe in the Constitution and calls it outdated and acts that way
No. 7: When did the president ever say of the constitution any of the things you said he said? And just for your information, the War Powers Act is not part of the constitution.