Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., convened a hearing Wednesday that served as a platform to voice off concerns about expansion of executive war powers.
With witnesses including Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano and American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Director Christopher Anders, the gathering largely came together to condemn new Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, legislation for a variety of reasons.
Their philosophies were spread across the entire ideological spectrum, but there was sweeping consensus that the bill, proposed by Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., would consolidate military authority unilaterally behind the presidency, reducing any need for congressional approval to a professional courtesy. Citing examples of U.S. bombing in Libya and Syria under the Obama and Trump administrations, they all agreed the issue of congressional oversight is timely and bipartisan.
All lawmakers in attendance agreed with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who said, “In failing to assert our war powers we’ve effectively ceded them to the president … allowing us to blame him when things go wrong.”
Napolitano started his testimony saying that he and Sanders agree on everything with regards to their positions on executive overreach. Sanders later asked him what having this conversation says about the state of the country beyond wars, to which he replied, “The fact that we’re having this conversation on whether or not the president could kill Americans in America or engage in wars perpetually speaks to how low we have sunk with regards to morality, culture, and conventional standards, Sen. Sanders.”
Sanders brought up the question of whether the U.S. is in a state of never-ending war, reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984.
While Trump aims to hold military parades and deals with a belligerent North Korea, everyone at the hearing seemed to agree that congressional negligence is no longer an option. “If Kaine-Corker passes let it be known there were at least some of us who warned,” Paul said.
