[lbo-talk] Congress could force withdrawal from Iraq

[Michael Hoover]

On 1/12/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [I haven't seen the bit about the War Powers Act giving Congress the
> right to force withdrawal anywhere else. Seems important, not, of
> course, that the Dems are about to do anything rash.]
>
> Financial Times - January 11, 2007
> Congress is helpless only out of choice
> By Jacob Weisberg
>
> But Congress's power to terminate a war is even clearer than its
> power to forbid one in the first place. A provision of the war powers
> resolution states specifically that the president must remove forces
> when Congress so orders. Faced with military deployments they
> disliked in Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, Republican lawmakers did not
> hesitate to invoke this authority during the Clinton years.
>
> Perhaps the most striking example was the military intervention in
> Somalia. In 1993, the House of Representatives passed an amendment
> saying US forces could remain there only one more year. Two
> subsequent defence appropriations bills cut off funding for the
> deployment. Congress also drew limits around how US personnel and
> bases could be used.
<<<<<>>>>>

nothig passed by one chamber would carry the force of law...

Language in Section 5c of the WPR indicates that Congressional could
use a concurrent resolution to rescind previously agreed to
authorization (CRs do not require presidential signature). However, a
Supreme Court ruling in the early 1980s Chadra case would suggest that
such unilateral congressional action known as the "legislative veto"
would not have the force of law.

In the 1983 authorization for Lebanon, Congress included language
providing for use of a joint resolution (JRs require presidential
signature) in the event that the Supreme Court were to rule Section 5c
unconstitutional. I do not know if the current authorization dating to
2001 contains such a clause although I doubt it. But even if specific
language providing for a joint resolution is not necessary, would
enough Republicans vote in favor of a resolution to make it
veto-proof?   Michael Hoover