Thomas Massie: “Last night, the Rules Committee came out with a procedural resolution for the farm bill that violates both the…”

“Last night, the Rules Committee came out with a procedural resolution for the farm bill that violates both the Constitution and the War Powers Act of 1973. Just when you thought Congress couldn't get any swampier, we continue to exceed even the lowest expectations. Section 2 of House Resolution 1176, the rule for the farm bill, says that the provisions of section 7 of the War Powers Resolution shall not apply during the remainder of the 115th Congress to any concurrent resolution introduced pursuant to the War Powers Resolution. What this means is that our leadership has decided that the House just doesn't need to vote on whether U.S. soldiers, personnel, weapons, and taxpayer dollars should go toward assisting Saudi Arabia with its brutal war on civilians in Yemen, a war that has caused the world's worst famine in over 100 years. This isn't the first time that our leadership, using the Rules Committee, has swept under the rug the War Powers Act. They did it last month. What they did is they hid the vote inside of another resolution, a procedural resolution for a bill called Manage our Wolves Act. So, many Members of Congress swept under the rug the War Powers Act without even knowing it, because it was in a procedural resolution. But think about what they are doing this time. Instead of specifying a certain resolution that they are going to suspend the War Powers Act for, they are saying any resolution for all of Congress.…”