On the recordJune 17, 2015
I, too, reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I first would like to insert in the Record a letter of support from the Constitution Project, which is signed by our former colleague, Republican Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma; a letter in support of this resolution from the Council for a Liveable War; a letter of support from Win Without War; and a letter of support from the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The Constitution Project, Washington, DC, June 17, 2015. Hon. Jim McGovern, House of Representatives. Hon. Walter Jones, House of Representatives. Hon. Barbara Lee, House of Representatives. Dear Representatives McGovern, Jones and Lee: We write to applaud you for your efforts to compel Congress to exercise its constitutional responsibility to decide on war. For ten months President Obama has prosecuted the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) under a specious legal claim that Congress authorized it fourteen years ago. Congress has done no such thing. It is high time that Members weighed in. We take no position on grave policy choices about whether to continue to use military force against ISIL, and if so how. But Congress must. The Framers vested the war power in the legislative branch precisely because they believed that young Americans should only be put in harm's way when the people, through their representatives' collective judgment, approved it. We know this is the most difficult issue that Members face.…
