Charles Rangel: “Let me thank Mr. Kucinich, and I support his efforts over the years, but especially today, in allowing this very…”

“Let me thank Mr. Kucinich, and I support his efforts over the years, but especially today, in allowing this very sensitive constitutional question to be debated. I asked him and almost pleaded that he allow me to follow my friend Dan Burton, because nothing could better prove to our colleagues and those that know both of us how nonpartisan this issue is and should be. This is not a question, really, of past Presidents who always thought they were doing the best for the United States of America when they put our men and women in harm's way. Not one of them ever thought that they were doing anything immoral. This is not a Democratic problem; it's not a Republican problem; it's not a problem of the President of the United States, not Nixon, not Kennedy, not Johnson, certainly not President Obama, certainly not the Bushes. It's a problem of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. This is a congressional problem. We have not fulfilled our responsibility. Some people I have heard say, well, this hasn't reached a level that it should be war. Well, ask the men and women that make the sacrifices and come home and leave their fallen friends there whether this was a war. Ask those mothers and fathers and children who have lost their loved ones whether this is war. It's easy for us to say that we are not going to get involved; let the President have the authority.…”