Arlen Specter: “by way of a very brief supplemental comment, it is true that the President has authority as Commander in Chief. When he…”

“by way of a very brief supplemental comment, it is true that the President has authority as Commander in Chief. When he exercises his authority in the deployment of some 4,000 U.S. troops, it is another question. He has a stronger claim to do that under his power as Commander in Chief than he does to have air-strikes or missile strikes, in my opinion. Those air-strikes and missile strikes are acts of war. If he deploys U.S. troops, if they go into a hostile situation, that may trigger the War Powers Act, which is a little different consideration with the Constitutional provision which authorizes only the Congress to declare war. But I do think that we in the Congress do need to consider these issues, debate them, and make decisions about them. We have the authority by restraining spending in the Department of Defense to stop the deployment of troops. I am not saying we should do it, but I think there is too much of a tendency on the part of Congress to sit back and not to make these kind of tough decisions. If things go wrong, there is always the President to blame. If things go right, we haven't impeded Presidential action. But these raise very, very serious Constitutional issues. There is a continuing erosion. Before the President uses force, we have a chance to intervene. If it is an emergency situation, that is different; he has to act as Commander in Chief. But we have had ample opportunity to consider this Kosovo issue. And it is on the back burner now.”