USA Today: Lawmakers seek condemnation of Obama over Bergdahl

News Article

By: Donovan Slack

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants more than hot air aimed at President Obama for the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap.

Four House members, including two Democrats, announced Wednesday that they are filing a resolution to officially "condemn" Obama for failing to give Congress 30-days' notice -- as required by law -- before trading five Taliban prisoners who had been held at Guantanamo Bay for the captive U.S. Army soldier.

The resolution also expresses "grave concern" about the release of the former Taliban leaders, who were sent to Qatar. The House would have to vote on the resolution for it to have any effect, and no vote has been scheduled.

"The release of these detainees may pose a national security threat to Americans and our armed forces, and complicates our current efforts to combat terrorism worldwide, " states the resolution. It is co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Reid Ribble of Wisconsin and Scott Rigell of Virginia and Democratic Reps. John Barrow of Georgia and Nick Rahall of West Virginia. Rahall and Barrow are two of the most endangered House Democrats heading into the November elections, as they represent traditionally Republican districts where Obama is very unpopular.

The announcement came as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was defending the swap at a hearing on Capitol Hill. He told the House Armed Services Committee that there wasn't enough time to notify Congress. "We believed this exchange was our last, best opportunity to free him," Hagel said. "The exchange needed to take place quickly, efficiently."

The requirement for congressional notification was included in legislation signed into law by the president last December. But Obama issued a so-called "signing statement" at the time noting that he would not abide by its conditions if circumstances warranted. "The executive branch must have the flexibility, among other things, to act swiftly in conducting negotiations with foreign countries regarding the circumstances of detainee transfers," the statement said.

Obama has come under intense fire from both sides of the aisle since he announced the swap in the White House Rose Garden May 31. Feeding the furor were allegations that Bergdahl voluntarily left his post in Afghanistan when he was captured in June 2009. And the revelation that Congress hadn't been notified.

"You yourself said when you campaigned you weren't going to use signing statements. You yourself when you campaigned said you weren't going to do end-runs around Congress, but here we are," Ribble said Wednesday. "And at some point I think you have to just finally call foul on it."

Ribble said he doesn't want prisoners kept indefinitely at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, but he doesn't want them released without any kind of trial.

His Democratic co-sponsors were no less aggressive in their criticism of Obama.

"The president is claiming authority to act in a way that is contrary to what the law explicitly says," Rahall said in a statement. "Congress must exercise its legislative authority under the Constitution's system of checks and balances to counter such executive assertions, which is what this resolution aims to do."

Barrow doesn't like the swap, period.

"After receiving a classified briefing from the administration, I disagree with how the administration negotiated with terrorists for the transfer of terrorists we already had in custody," he said.

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