Mark Pocan: “I thank Ranking Member McGovern and Representative Khanna for all they have done to help lead the efforts to end the…”

“I thank Ranking Member McGovern and Representative Khanna for all they have done to help lead the efforts to end the United States' unauthorized war in Yemen. Congress' sole responsibility over offensive use of force is outlined in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution: ``Congress shall have power to . . . declare war.'' James Madison argued that this power ``is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.'' Yet, today, House Republicans are attempting to avoid their responsibilities by sneaking unrelated language into this rule which will prohibit consideration of a War Powers Resolution pertaining to the U.S.-Saudi war in Yemen. To be clear, they took a bill about removing gray wolves from the endangered species list in North America and included a provision prohibiting even just the discussion of war in Yemen. Now, there are rare Arabian wolves native to Yemen--about 1,000 to 2,000--roaming in the Middle East. Canis lupus arabs is a subspecies of gray wolf. But this is a wolf in sheep's clothing. This is the deprivileging of H. Con. Res. 138, which is just another abdication of our responsibilities as Members of Congress. We are literally elected to make decisions about war and peace, and we are failing to do the most basic function of our job: to uphold the Constitution. We should at least have the courage to make the decisions about war and about conflicts in which we are entangling our constituents who serve in the military. Today, as Mr.…”