Congress Must Defund the War--Sen. Russ Feingold

Tweet "There is plenty of precedent for Congress exercising its constitutional authority to stop U.S. involvement in armed conflict. Last month, I chaired a Judiciary Committee hearing entitled "Exercising Congress's Constitutional Power to End a War."

"Without exception, every witness--those called by the majority and the minority--did not challenge the constitutionality of Congress' authority to end a war. Lou Fisher of the Library of Congress is one of the foremost experts on presidential war power--in fact, he literally wrote the book on this topic. He testified that Congress does not simply have the power--it has a responsibility to exercise it when needed. He said, and I quote:

"is the continued use of military force and a military commitment in the Nation's interest? That is the core question. Once you decide that, if you decide it is not in the national interest, you certainly do not want to continue putting U.S. troops in harm's way."

"The argument that cutting of funding for a flawed policy would hurt the troops, and that continuing to put U.S. troops in harm's way supports the troops, makes no sense. By ending funding for the war, we can bring our troops safely out of Iraq. Walter Dellinger of Duke Law School made this point when he testified about my proposal:

"There would not be one penny less for salary of the troops. There would not be one penny less for benefits of the troops. There would not be one penny less for weapons or ammunition. There would not be one penny less for supplies or support. Those troops would simply be redeployed to other areas where the armed forces are utilized."

"Instead of allowing the president's failed policy to continue, Congress can and should use its power of the purse to end our involvement in the Iraq war, safely redeploying the troops while ensuring, as I do in my bill, that important counterterrorism and training missions are still carried out.

From Counterpunch.org