War Powers Resolution Case Study

The U.S. Constitution gives Congress and the president different responsibilities and duties over military powers, but there have long been disagreements about where one's war powers begin and the other's ends. The U.S. Constitution allows the president to wage wars as commander in chief while Congress has the power to declare and fund wars. Experts agree that presidents can order U.S. troops to fight when the country is attacked or attack appears probable but chief executives from both major parties often differ with Congress over their ability to initiate military force in other combat situations.
Congress did respond to the growing executive power. In November 1973, the House and Senate jointly passed the War Powers Resolution, intending

to “ensure the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of the United States Armed forces into hostiles.” It affirmed that the president could only send the military into combat if he had obtained a declaration of war, specific authorization, or if there was a national emergency. If troops are introduced without congressional authorization, the President must report the use of force within 48 hours to Congress. If the President does not receive congressional backing for the conflict after sixty days, he must terminate hostilities. Although most presidents have expressly denied the constitutionality of the resolution, all have formally adhered to its requirements.
However, there are examples of the resolution proving insufficient for Congress to assert itself against executive powers.

After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, President George Bush ordered a large force to deter further aggression. President Bush claimed that he had sufficient authority as president to launch the war without congressional approval. Like Truman, he relied on UN for backing for the war. The House reacted by passing a resolution stating that the President must seek approval from Congress before launching a war in the Gulf unless American lives were in imminent danger. The law ended up in federal court. The court ruled that it cannot decide such a political question, but criticized the President for believing that he alone could take the country to war in the absence of an

attack.
According to the Constitution, Congress has the power to regulate commerce, raise and support armies, provide and maintain a navy, and declare war. Although congress has broad power and is designed to be the primary check on presidential war power, since WW2, congress has been rather ineffective in checking presidential war powers.
The War Powers Resolution requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days without a Congressional authorization for use of military force.

However, as Arthur Schlesinger Jr. argues, “presidential primacy, so indispensable to the political order, has turned into supremacy, and we can see an appropriation by the presidency of powers reserved by the constitution and by long historical practice to congress.” Although following president Richard Nixon’s resignation, Congress was resurgent and the foreign policy power of the presidency appeared to be waning, in the post-September 11 era, in dealing with terrorism, the Bush administration pushes the boundaries on the presidential use of force and threats the balance between the executive and legislative branches. However, Congress approved Bush’s request for $87 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan with little changes and failed to deal with the Iraqi prison abuse scandal. In the post-9/11 era Congress has failed to arrest the growth of the imperial presidency in foreign policy, rendering the WPR little more than a symbolic declaration of lost

power.
Clinton’s actions toward Iraq established a pattern that continued into the Bush administration. Clinton administration took action with little congressional consultation since congress remained relatively silent on each occasion. By subverting congress and its constitutional authority and using the United Nations as the basis of presidential claims of war powers, presidents Clinton and Bush have further contributed to the abuse of war power. Congress has been ineffective in checking presidential war powers, in that in some cases, congress not only fails to combat presidential war power but also even voluntarily surrenders its legislative functions. In both Clinton and Bush administrations, Congress never declared war, but actively supported the actions each president took. The War Powers Resolution may seem as if it limits the presidential power through certain restrictions. However, the resolution proves not so effective as the president is able to circumvent compliance if he or she wishes to do so. Therefore, despite with the power to check presidential war power, Congress has been inefficient in asserting itself against executive power.