Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I so appreciate the great leadership of the Senator from West Virginia. He understands better than any Member of this…”

“I so appreciate the great leadership of the Senator from West Virginia. He understands better than any Member of this body the role of Congress in sending our troops into foreign conflicts or into harm's way anywhere overseas. He understands and he has spoken eloquently about not only our role but our responsibility. He well knows that the Founders who wrote the Constitution of the United States had a model. They had a model of a king. The king was able to declare war and implement it. The king held the purse strings and the power. Our Founders very clearly said, ``We are not going to do that.'' And in the Constitution they provided that there would be a dual power. The President can commit troops; only Congress can declare war. That is what our Constitution says, and if one side falls down on their responsibility, then we have an unlimited power in the President. That is not the American way; furthermore, it is a dangerous precedent. Congress must stand for its responsibility to make sure that if our troops are going into harm's way, if our taxpayers are going to spend $3 billion a year on a mission overseas, Congress must authorize it, and we do it with the power of the purse, which is the appropriations process.”