I know another Trump Iran post, yipie! but the congressional response to President Trump’s actions is a particularly interesting, and important, facet of the issue that I believe should be debated on.
Republican Senator Mike Lee from Utah called the briefing regarding the drone strike in Iran given on Wednesday by top Trump administration officials “probably the worst briefing [he’d] seen, at least on a military issue in the nine years [he’s] served in the United States’ Senate.” In a passionate address to the media, Lee illustrated that the briefers seemed to dodge questions regarding the legal and moral justification for the attack, claiming they were too classified to be discussed.
On Thursday, the house voted in favor of a War Powers Resolution which calls to remove the president's power of using armed forces against Iran unless a declaration of war or a specific authorization has been passed by Congress, or if military actions in needed in an imminent attack. However, the resolution passed in the House is not binding, meaning the president is not forced to comply. While Speaker Pelosi and other House Democrats believe the resolution accomplishes the purpose of sending the President the message that he must first get the approval of Congress before any hostile foreign action, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy compared the power of resolution passed in the House to that of a New Years Resolution.
As we have studied in the Executive Unit, the War Power Resolution used by President Trump has conditions: the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of the attack, armed forces can only remain for 60 days without approval, and 30 days are given for such removal. While President Trump did notify Congress within the permitted 48 hours, thus abiding by the law, the document given was found to be brief, lacking specifics, and classified in its entirety, preventing the public from viewing it’s contents. The briefing, as discussed earlier was seen as inadequate as well.
Although President Trump did technically abide by the law, do you view his actions as justifiable? Do you believe there needs to be more done in Congress to address the War Powers Act? Or do you believe the Act is sufficient in protecting Presidential power while preventing tyranny?
1 comment:
I think that in no way Trump's actions were justified. I'm personally not an expert on the relation between our two nations, but I do not think murder is an appropriate engagement, especially on Trump's part. Honestly if he's trying to give the US an even worse rep, he's doing pretty damn well. I think that Congress should make a stronger, stricter attempt to put restrictions on the child that sits in the white house. If Trump continues to make decisions like this, without stricter reprimand from congress, people will likely be outraged. I understand that Congress has made attempts, like the impeachment as well as the revised War Powers Resolution, but it doesn't see to be getting through to Trump. I'm just very concerned about having this person represent a nation of how many billion people.
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