Statement By Senator Edward M. Kennedy In Response To Vice President Cheney

STATEMENT BY SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY IN RESPONSE TO VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY

Today Vice President Cheney asserted that Congress doesn't have authority to change the strategy in Iraq, saying that "you cant run a war by committee." Below is a statement by Senator Kennedy, who has put forward a bill that requires the President to get authorization from Congress before he escalates troop levels in Iraq. Also below is a fact sheet on the previous times in history when Congress has used its authority to stop the escalation of war.:

"By escalating the war, the President is ignoring the advice of his generals, the bipartisan Baker Hamilton commission, the voice of the American people - and now as Vice President Cheney has made clear he intends to ignore Congress. The stubbornness of this Administration means repeating the same colossal mistakes over and over and failing to achieve a new policy that is worthy of the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform.

The President took two months to determine his new plan - yet he'll do anything to prevent Congress from debating it and giving the American people a voice in this very wrong and tragic decision."

Congress' Historical Role in Policing Military Escalation

On numerous occasions over the past several decades, Congress has exercised its constitutional authority to limit the President's ability to escalate existing military engagements by capping the number of American military personnel available for deployment and by refusing to release appropriated funds. It is incumbent upon Congress to exercise that authority to ensure that our men and women are not put in harm's way unnecessarily or without a plan worthy of their great sacrifice.

? In the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, P.L. 93-559, enacted during the Vietnam War, Congress limited the number of American military personnel in South Vietnam to 4,000 within six months and 3,000 within a year of the Act's enactment.

? The Lebanon Emergency Assistance Act of 1983, P.L. 98-43, required the President to "obtain statutory authorization from the Congress with respect to any substantial expansion in the number or role in Lebanon of the United States Armed Forces, including any introduction of United States Armed Forces into Lebanon in conjunction with agreements providing for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and for the creation of a new multinational peace-keeping force in Lebanon."

? Through the Department of Defense Authorization Act of 1985, P.L. 98-525, Congress prohibited the use of funds appropriated in the Act or in subsequent Acts from being used to increase the number of U.S. military personnel deployed in European nations of NATO. The Act provided that Congress might authorize increased troop levels above the prescribed ceiling upon the Secretary of Defense's certification to Congress that the European nations had taken significant measures to improve their defense capacity.

? In the Military Construction Appropriations Act of 2001, P.L. 106-246, Congress limited the involvement of U.S. military personnel and civilian contractors in counter-narcotics activities in Colombia by prohibiting the use of appropriated funds to expand their presence above specified levels.

? The Second Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1973, P.L. 93-50, specified that none of the funds appropriated by the Act were to be used "to support directly or indirectly combat activities in or over Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam or off the shores of Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam by United States Forces and after August 15, 1973, no other funds heretofore appropriated under any other Act may be expended for such purpose."

? Congress authorized the use of U.S. Armed Forces in Somalia in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 1994, P.L. 103-139, but set a deadline after which appropriated funds could no longer be used to pay for their involvement. The Act specified that the deadline could only be extended if requested by the President and authorized by the Congress.

? In the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 1995, P.L. 103-335, Congress required congressional approval of "any change in the United States mission in Rwanda from one of strict refugee relief to security, peace-enforcing, or nation-building or any other substantive role" and blocked funding for continued participation of the U.S. military in Operation Support Hope beyond a specified date.

? The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998, P.L. 105-85, provided that no funds appropriated for fiscal year 1998 or any subsequent year could be used for the deployment of any U.S. ground combat forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina after a specified cutoff date unless the President first consulted with Congress and then certified to Congress that certain conditions existed in the field.

http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=d054b515-6c65-4dda-ba28-004ff164bfc9