Foreign Policy

Congress abdicates its constitutional duty to debate and authorize an AUMF for ISIS

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Before the terrorist attack in Paris on Friday evening, there was a little noticed event that received very little discussion in the “lamestream” media.

ConstitutionCapitolOn November 6, a bipartisan group of 35 House Representatives sent a letter (.pdf) to the new Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), calling on him to bring an authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against ISIS to the House floor for a debate and a vote.

The letter was spearheaded by Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Tom Cole, (R-OK), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Walter Jones (R-NC), Peter Welch (D-VT), and John Lewis (D-GA). This letter represents the latest of many efforts by a vocal minority in Congress that wants Congress to fulfill its constitutional duty to debate and vote on war.

We do not share the same policy prescriptions for U.S. military engagement in the region, but we do share the belief that it is past time for the Congress to fulfil its obligations under the Constitution and vote on an AUMF that clearly delineates the authority and limits, if any, on U.S. military engagement in Iraq, Syria and the surrounding region. U.S. bombing campaigns have been going on for more than a year, and U.S. troops on the ground have been increasingly close to or drawn into combat operations, including the recent death in combat of a special operations officer in Iraq.

Consistent with your pledge to return to regular order, we urge you to direct the committees of jurisdiction to draft and report out an AUMF as soon as possible. We do not believe in the illusion of a consensus authorization, something that happens only rarely. We do believe the Congress can no longer ask our brave service men and women to continue to serve in harm’s way while we fail in carrying out our constitutional responsibly in the area of war and peace.

As long as the House fails to assert its constitutional prerogatives and authority, the Administration may continue to expand the mission and level of engagement of U.S. Armed Forces throughout the region. We strongly urge you, Mr. Speaker, to bring an AUMF to the floor of the House as quickly as possible.

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Senate Dems seal the Iran nuclear deal

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Iran-nuclear-deal-1024x576It looks like the Septuagenarian Ninja Turtle, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is not quite the master of the Senate that he imagines himself to be in his own disturbed mind.

The Turtle Man’s last-ditch effort to derail the P5+1 world powers nuclear agreement with Iran was thwarted today by the Honey Badger, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, the true master of the Senate. Senate Dems stonewall Iran resolution, handing victory to Obama:

Senate Democrats blocked a resolution disapproving the Iran nuclear deal for a third time Thursday, sealing a major foreign policy victory for President Obama.

Senators voted 56-42 against ending debate on the resolution of disapproval, falling short of the 60 votes needed on the procedural motion.

Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin (Md.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Bob Menendez (N.J.) and Charles Schumer (N.Y.) for a third time bucked Obama and voted “no” on the deal.

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Tea-Publicans demand ‘nuclear option’ on Iran nuclear deal

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The Iran Review period expires on September 17, and dead-ender Tea-Publicans will not accept their defeat. Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked another vote on a resolution disapproving of the Iran nuclear deal, reprising the result of a vote last week. Senate Democrats Again Block Vote to Reject Iran Deal.

NukeLast week, Arizona’s angry old man, war monger John McCain (“bomb, bomb. bomb. bomb. bomb Iran“) said Friday he would be willing to look at using the “nuclear option” to advance legislation against the Iran nuclear non-proliferation agreement (irony is lost on him). John McCain Entertains ‘Nuclear Option’ to Reject Iran Deal. Now McNasty has the radicals in the House, who seem to think that they run everything in Washington, demanding the “nuclear option.” House GOP wants McConnell to go nuclear on Iran agreement:

Multiple House Republicans want Senate leaders to “go nuclear” over the Obama administration’s deal with Iran now that Democrats have stymied efforts to derail the accord by conventional means.

A small but growing number of GOP lawmakers say that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should invoke the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules and prevent a filibuster on a resolution to kill the deal.

Their angst is intensified by their belief that Democrats will likely be able to block legislation withholding federal funds from Planned Parenthood, a standoff that increases the chances of a government shutdown.

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Justice Department: Secretary Clinton had authority to delete personal emails

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The editors of the New York Times, who have long engaged in the Clinton Rules of  “scandal” mongering reporting, somehow missed this highly relevant piece of information to report this week. The Times was more interested in exacting an act of contrition and apology from Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton’s Long Road to ‘Sorry’ Over Email Use.

Ruby Cramer at BuzzFeed News reports, Justice Department Lawyers: Clinton Had Authority To Delete Personal Emails:

Hillary-Clinton-textingIn a little noticed brief, filed on Wednesday to a federal court, Department of Justice lawyers outlined a comprehensive defense of the contentious decision by Hillary Clinton to wipe the private email server she used as secretary of state: The attorneys assert that, regardless of whether she used a personal or government account, Clinton was within her legal right to handpick the emails that qualified as federal records — and to delete the ones she deemed personal.

“There is no question that former Secretary Clinton had authority to delete personal emails without agency supervision — she appropriately could have done so even if she were working on a government server,” write the Justice Department attorneys, representing the State Department in the brief.

The lawyers add that under policies issued by the State Department and by NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration, government employees “are permitted and expected to exercise judgment to determine what constitutes a federal record.”

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Mutiny on the Boehner: Iran, Planned Parenthood, then government shutdown

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FreedomWorksPhase one of the Mutiny on the Boehner is now complete.

On Wednesday, the mutinous GOP House Freedom Caucus took Captain Queeg the TanMan hostage and forced him to pull the scheduled vote on the resolution of disapproval of the Iran agreement. They then forced the nominal Weeper of the House to accede to their hair-brained “Tortilla coast gambit” based on a debunked conspiracy theory about IAEA “secret side deals” with Iran. The GOP House Freedom Caucus ‘Tortilla Coast gambit’ to delay the Iran deal is a fraud.

On Thursday, the House voted on two resolutions claiming that the President had not given them all the information required to be reviewed by Congress under the Iran review law passed by Congress.  Not true: As Max Fischer wrote:

You can read, for yourself, the law that Congress passed articulating its authority to disapprove the Iran deal. Section 135 describes the congressional review period, and specifically articulates the documents that the Obama administration is required to give Congress. There is nothing in there about the text of IAEA safeguards agreements with Iran.

These two resolutions from the GOP’s Gimmicks-R-Us Shoppe were approved on a straight party-line vote without a single Democrat in support. Roll Call Vote 491 243-186 (straight party-line vote); Roll Call Vote 492 245-186 (straight party-line vote). This demonstrates that the TanMan is not in command of his mutinous ship.

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