FEINGOLD TO CHAIR JUDICIARY HEARING ON CONGRESS’S POWER TO END A WAR

[kpete]

FEINGOLD TO CHAIR JUDICIARY HEARING ON CONGRESS’S POWER TO END A WAR
January 25, 2007

Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, January 30th, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will chair a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled, “Exercising Congress’s Constitutional Power to End a War.” Earlier this month, Feingold, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, became the first Senator to call on Congress to use its power of the purse to redeploy our troops safely from Iraq so that we can refocus on the global terrorist networks that threaten our national security. Feingold proposed this action after President George Bush announced plans to escalate our military involvement in Iraq despite the objections of members of both parties, military and foreign policy experts, and the American people.

“Congress holds the power of the purse and if the President continues to advance his failed Iraq policy, we have the responsibility to use that power to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq,” Feingold said. “This hearing will help inform my colleagues and the public about Congress’s power to end a war and how that power has been used in the past. I will soon be introducing legislation to use the power of the purse to end what is clearly one of the greatest mistakes in the history of our nation’s foreign policy.”

Witnesses at the hearing will include:

Louis Fisher, Library of Congress:
Prof. Walter Dellinger, Duke University School of Law, former Solicitor General of the United States
Prof. David Barron, Harvard Law School
Prof. Robert Turner, University of Virginia Law School
Who: U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution

What: Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing -- “Exercising Congress’s Constitutional Power to End a War.” Feingold will chair the full committee hearing.

Where: SD - 226

When: Tuesday, January 30th – 10:00 am ET

Senator Feingold’s remarks from yesterday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting regarding the need to end our involvement in Iraq can be viewed and heard here: http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/statements/07/01/20070124.htm.

http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/07/01/20070125hearing.html

[Diane R]

1. Pleased to recommend this.

[goforit]

2. Thank you GOD!!!!.........Will it be on CSPAN?

[tridim]

6. Feingold is God?

:evilgrin:

[Straight Shooter]

9. Nope. Just his messenger.

O8)

[Nite Owl]

3. Conyers is having a hearing too

same morning I think. Tuesday is going to be a very busy cspan day(or evening if we have to wait)!

I really wish Feingold were running.

[hippiechick]

7. I'm feelin' a "Vice President Feingold", myself

Gore/Feingold


'Tis music to me ears! :applause:

[emmadoggy]

20. Mine too!

:toast: :loveya: :loveya: :headbang: :woohoo: :patriot:

[Nite Owl]

22. That would be ideal!

I would wear out many pairs of shoes going door to door for that team!

[Just-plain-Kathy]

23. Gore/Feingold...Feingold/Webb

...The music is good and I want to dance.

:hi:

[lonestarnot]

4. Wooodamnwhooooo! Excellent!

:applause: :woohoo: yeips!

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Damnit to hell, that is excellent news.....

I wish Feingold was running for president.

[sellitman]

29. I agree but...

Maybe Russ was right when he said he could do the country more good from his seat in the Senate? If this is a preview then I say all the better.

Feingold rocks!

[babylonsister]

8. Conyers, Feingold, Waxman...they're coming fast and furious now! nt

[Olney Blue]

10. Finally- a scholarly discussion of the law in a committee.

Thank you, Senator.

[mzmolly]

11. This is the beginning of the end folks.

:toast:

[dolo amber]

13. Again?

:shrug:

[mzmolly]

16. Well given we JUST took control less than a month ago, I'd say we're doing

quite well? Perhaps I've used redundant language in my haste to celebrate? If so, oops.

[dolo amber]

18. Nah, that wasn't directed at you personally

And I apologize for being awful. I think I'm just jaded beyond all hope sometimes. ;)

[mzmolly]

19. Understandable.

:hi:

[Bitwit1234]

12. And if they pass it and bush's goes ahead

then he is guilty of treason. Right....

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

14. It would be another count on the Articles of Impeachment

Edited to say "Articles of Impeachment."

My first attempt was written the way Bush talks. I had to fix it!

[ray of light]

15. kerry and feingold are working together! this is great!

Also, I can't help wondering who has pushed our best candidates out of the race.

[mzmolly]

17. In all honesty, I wonder if they felt more strongly about ending the war

than running for office? Kerry had a taste of the big political goal, and I think his heart is with the troops now?

[Peace Patriot]

21. Excellent! There are many ways to do this. Congress absolutely has the

power of the purse strings. They used it to forbid Reagan to wage war on Nicaragua--the initial situation from which the covert Iran/Contra war developed. Then, Reagan's operatives sold missiles to Iran, to fund the fascist "contra" death squads in Nicaragua--trying to sneak around Congress' Constitutional right to ban use of funds for that purpose. Some of the Reagan underlings did jail time for it. But I think these Democrats have learned a thing or two since then. Ban the funds, and look for covert diversions of funds, or illicit fundraising. (Or, hell, just look at Halliburton's bank accounts, stuffed with the money they already stole.)

Other ideas:

Rescind the Iraq War Resolution (IWR). No more authorization to be in Iraq. Immediate withdrawal required.

This would be the fastest way of doing it--as Sen. Kennedy has proposed. The Junta has billions in the bank sufficient to kill a lot more people, unless the funds are made retroactively restricted. It's that IWR "authorization" that is their tenuous thread of legitimate power to conduct the occupation and kill more Iraqis (and get US soldiers killed) (--and get the oil contracts signed!). Pull the "authorization," and Bush has no right to be there. (The IWR was unconstitutional anyway--Congress CANNOT give away its power to decide about war. The whole bunch of them should have been impeached for violating their oath of office when they did so. But I guess that is what the '06 elections were all about. We 'impeached' Congress!)

Or amend the IWR, specifying the timetable for withdrawal. And restrict funding to withdrawal.

And since Congress has the SOLE POWER of the purse--as well as the SOLE POWER to declare war--Congress can damn well RETROACTIVELY restrict Bush's war funds. They can do anything they want to, with this power. They are Congress--an equal branch of government!

And the other issue is IRAN. It's clear now that Iraq was only a stepping stone to Iran. That is one of the reasons the Junta is hanging onto Iraq by tooth and claw. They want ALL Mideast oil. And they want to create such a disaster in the Middle East that we can never get out of there.

But I understand that we still don't have a Congress that is adequately representative of the American people--due largely to the fact that rightwing Bushite corporations are "counting" all our votes with "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code. So Feingold has to lead them by the hand, and re-introduce them to the Constitution. (I heard the "blue dog" Democrats--Bushites in sheep's clothing--on C-Span the other day, wanting to "balance the budget" on the backs of the poor, and the one thing they wouldn't touch is war spending. A gang of about 40 so-called Democrats. So, with "Democrats" like that shilling for the war profiteers, the real representatives of the people are handicapped. There is also the fact that only 1/3 of the Senate was up for reelection this time. Lot of dinosaurs there.)

Another method of stopping the war is to impeach Cheney--and the revelations coming out in the Treasongate trial are certainly reason to start impeachment proceedings against him immediately. Impeachment is first of all an investigation. And that is what is needed--an investigation into Cheney's role in outing a covert CIA agent and an entire CIA WMD counter-proliferation network, in the course of Cheney's and the Junta's pack of lies about Iraq WMDs. It was goddamned treason! Impeaching Cheney will take the stuffing out of Bush. There is hardly anyone left in the government (or the country) who wants this war/occupation. Cheney is the driving force. Bush will be clueless and paralyzed without him. And if he persists, then impeach Bush.

THIS is the very crisis for which our Founders created the "balance of powers" in the Constitution: Executive wars of choice. This is exactly what they were thinking of. Executive wars of choice are the height of tyranny. There is no action by a president or king that has more negative impact on the people and the treasury. They wanted to STOP THIS from EVER HAPPENING. And, if it ever did, they wanted CONGRESS to exercise its powers of funding and of declaring war, to curtail an out-of-control president. And this is exactly what we have. It couldn't be clearer.

[midnight]

24. Thank you for bringing this piece of information to my attention.

It is such happy news.

[porphyrian]

25. Yeah. - n/t

[StrictlyRockers]

26. Goody goody gumdrops. Sick 'em, Russ!

[anitar1]

27. Some of the Dems are pretending to be rather helpless about this.

I hope Feingold lets them know. Steny Hoyer being one of them. I read an article by David Sirota today that quoted the constitutional law on this very matter. Go to his blog to read it. Very illuminating.We are being played by Dems who are actually giving Bushbot a helping hand.< and hoping to jump on the gravy train, imho.>

[focusfan]

28. the Moron wants to start another war with Iran

when this war is over he will start with Iran.this idiot needs
to be throwed out on his head. 

[mayflower]

30. Cut The Funding Already - No Blank Check For Endless War! (n/t)