Sheila Jackson Lee: “Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. When we finish what sometimes may seem a complicated debate, where both sides can…”

“Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. When we finish what sometimes may seem a complicated debate, where both sides can seemingly make sense when we have the time to reflect upon the week's work or the work and philosophies of the different political perspectives in this House, I believe it is very important to communicate with your colleagues, so let me be as clear as I can be. As I heard my friends on the other side of the aisle, one after one, claim that the Libyan war was the President's war, well, today, on June 3, 2011, the President of the United States happens to be President Obama. Yet if you look at the Constitution of the United States, which provides provisions for the separation of powers, there is a section that articulates that the Congress, irrespective of any Presidential person in place, declares war. So I would ask my friends on the other side of the aisle: Would they have been as quick to rise to the floor on the Iraq war, which could be called the ``Bush war''? or the continued 10-year plus war in Afghanistan the ``Bush war''? When we discuss these issues for the American people, we have to be true to ourselves and the Constitution. There was a reason the Founding Fathers separated out the right to declare war. That reason, of course, was to protect you, the American people. When we send men and women into battle, it should be a deliberative process, but we should also have the right to defend ourselves.…”