Kendra S. Horn: “Let me just say, for my own answer, I think that our problem here is that we have given too many Presidents powers that…”

“Let me just say, for my own answer, I think that our problem here is that we have given too many Presidents powers that belong to Congress. I was on the floor as a young Senate assistant when the Tonkin Gulf Resolution came in. Only two United States Senators had the guts to stand up and oppose it, Mr. Gruening of Alaska, and I believe Mr. Morse of Oregon, and now we know that they were right. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was a lot of baloney. This situation is not baloney. The gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) correctly notes that it is a very serious situation, and we need to deal with these things, either on a collective security basis with the United Nations forces, but we should not be the sole police force that has to remedy all problems in the world. That is what bothers me. If we are going to do it, let the members of the executive branch come up here, discuss this serious matter with a lot of us, and see where we are on the subject. Now, President Bush did that in terms of the Gulf War. There was a debate, probably one of the better debates conducted in the House in the last twenty years, and then a vote was cast.”