Congress Is OK With Unrestrained War Powers For Donald Trump
Even Republicans who are a little worried about Trump are fine letting him take the reins of an undeclared war.
05/14/2016 11:27 am ET
Michael McAuliff
Senior Congressional Reporter, The Huffington Post
WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress may be struggling to wrap their arms around Donald Trump, but one thing most of them don’t seem concerned about is handing the bomb-throwing businessman the power they’ve granted the current president to throw real bombs.
President Barack Obama launched his war against the self-described Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, nearly two years ago. Rather than go to Congress to seek approval within the 60 days required by the War Powers Act, his administration relied on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force that was passed to attack Al Qaeda. The authorization specifically grants authority to pursue the culprits behind the Sept. 11 attacks as well as their supporters. ISIS did not exist then.
Obama did request new authority last year, but Republicans never brought it up for consideration, saying it was too limited and would tie the hands of future presidents.
That future president is likely to be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. On the Republican side, Trump has said his solution to ISIS would be to “bomb the shit out of ‘em.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-war-powers-donald-trump_us_57363557e4b08f96c1833708
= new reply since forum marked as read
