Ben Sasse: “I had not intended to speak today. I was presiding in the chair, but I simply want to take one minute to associate…”

“I had not intended to speak today. I was presiding in the chair, but I simply want to take one minute to associate myself with the comments of the Senator from Virginia, Mr. Kaine, who just spoke about our war against ISIS. I think two points he said are worth underscoring for us in this body: No. 1, we are obviously at war with ISIS. We should acknowledge that we are at war with ISIS. No. 2, why is it important that we do this? It is important for the troops who are at war for us to acknowledge the reality of the fact that we are at war. It is important for their families. It is important for debate and deliberation in this body and in the country more broadly. And, frankly, it is important for the future of this body to honor a constitutional intent that distinguishes between Article I, the legislature, and Article II, the Executive. In the American system, in Madison and the other Founders' genius, they recognized that many foreign wars have not made sense in human history because Executives get wrapped up in war without broader deliberation about the consequences of their actions. To be clear, we should absolutely be at war with ISIS, and we are at war with ISIS. But in the American constitutional system, it is the obligation of the 535 of us who serve in the Congress--and particularly the 100 who serve in the Senate--to represent our people and to have this debate before the people about the fact that we are at war with ISIS.…”