On June 20th, while debating H.R. 5631: making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes, the following amendment was offered by Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey of (D-NY-22):
AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
An amendment to prohibit any of the funds made available by the Act from being used to initiate military operations against Iran except in accordance with Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States.
What does Article I, Section 8 say? (Continue beneath the fold.)
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
including...
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
The amendment was defeated. Roll call vote here. You can read the names of the Republicans (and the 47 Democrats) who abdicated their authority to the President. Col. Dan Smith, writing in Counterpunch, summed it up well:
Now the House has once again, in effect, abandoned its role in any future decision about the need for and the wisdom of initiating war in the name of the people they represent - creating a vacuum the administration will eagerly fill.
Read a transcript of the very interesting floor debate here.