Marshall Sanford: “First off, I would just say thank you to Chairman McKeon for his work and for the leadership's work and, indeed, for…”

“First off, I would just say thank you to Chairman McKeon for his work and for the leadership's work and, indeed, for providing this time for debate. As was just stated by my colleague from Texas, I don't think that there is a more sacred vote out there for Members of Congress than on issues of war. I mean, in its balance hangs life and death. In its balance hangs all kinds of financial and life considerations. In its balance hangs how allies are going to view our actions going forward. This is an incredibly important subject, and, indeed, I thank Chairman McKeon for his work and the committee's work on this matter. That having been said, I rise, though, in respectful opposition not to the committee's work but to the actions of the President because I think his approach has been fundamentally flawed. I say that, first off, because I think that step one of an issue of war has to be congressional approval, and I think it is so important based on what the Constitution said for the President, indeed, to come to the Congress to ask for a declaration of war, and he has, quite simply, not done so. I would then say, ``Okay. On what basis does he move forward?'' If you look at what he and others have said, they hang a large part of their hat on the authorization of 2001, and I think what is interesting here is what the President, himself, said just 2 years ago. He said, ``The AUMF is now nearly 12 years old.…”