Essay On War Powers Resolution

The main breaking point between the President and Congress was in the Vietnam war. This war sparked a debate on who has the right to declare war, and who has the right to only send advisory troops. Only Congress has the right to declare war, the President can only send advisory troops to other countries. This is a very controversial topic because many people think that the President can declare war, but they have to ask the Congress first. Another convincing reason on why Congress is more powerful that the President is the fact that Congress can make laws and the President has no say. Laws are the outline of America, and they are the only thing keeping crime from all streets in all states across America. Those are only two reasons why Congress is more important to America than the President. All of these powers are stated in Article 1 of the Constitution and the powers of the President are listed in Article 2 of the Constitution. Some people still disagree, though, they think that the President has more rights than

“Congress has a portion of the war power because the members of Congress come from the several states and have close ties to all the people. The idea was that by splitting up the war power, the country would not go to war unless both constituencies – meaning the whole country – supported war.”("Understanding the Constitution of the United States"). Only way for a war to happen is if congress deems it reasonable, subordinating the executive branch.

One of the biggest constitutional conflicts between Congress and the President is their war power. Congress is the only branch of government capable of declaring war and financially supporting and raising the Armed Forces, while the President holds the position of Commander of Chief during war. This makes the President in control of all branches of the Armed Forces.

The President’s responsibilities seem to be endless and with such responsibility comes certain defined powers to handle those responsibilities. The Presidents power to act unilaterally enables the president to act in a formal capacity without the support of congress. The President must do so with justification or the President can be found in violation of the Constitutional powers received by the executive branch. There has continued to be a trend of more Presidents exercising their unilateral powers more frequently. There are many occasions in the history of this great nation where the President has had to act without the support of congress and has changed the shape of the nation forever.

The Constitution gave sole authority to declare war, as well as raise and support an Army and Navy, to the legislative branch. Furthermore, Congress was granted the power of the purse. Modeled after the British Parliament’s control over the King through the control of money, the framers of the constitution created a separation of powers supported by the philosophy of Locke and Montesquieu, oversight through funding. The frames intent for these powers would enable Congress to balance the authority of the President, the Commander in Chief, and submit him to Congressional approval for the use of force.

While the President was appointed as commander of the armed forces of the United States, the Constitution empowers Congress to "declare war". The president has repeatedly mobilized military forces to join the action in a war without an official declaration of war by Congress. For example, presidents Johnson and Nixon made their war-making power in the undeclared war in Vietnam, Unfortunately, this decision is irrelevant and criticized by both right and left, so Congress sets the limit on presidential power in unilateral military action. Over Nixon’s veto in 1973, the War Powers Resolution was passed by Congress to limit the president’s ability to commit troops to combat (352). According to the War Powers Resolution, the president can use groups

The War Powers Act limits the power of the President of the United States to wage war without the approval of the Congress. The War Powers Act is also known as The War Powers Resolution. The purpose of the War Powers Resolution is to ensure that Congress and the President share in making decisions that may get the United States involved in hostilities. It prohibits the President from waging war beyond 60 days without the Congressional approval (MILNET: The War Powers Act of 1973). Authorization can be made in many forms such as a temporary waiver of the Act or via a Declaration of War (MILNET: The War Powers Act of 1973).

Before this even the President, and the United States in general, did not have much interaction with other nations. After the war, however, the United States fulfilled its now known identity as the police of the world and also became to involve itself with politics overseas. Since the Presidents limitations where already soft to start with before this change in foreign policy it made it become even more relaxed and unstable. This can be seen in numerous wars from then till now including Truman’s war in North Korea, in which he did even discuss with congress, Bush’s war in Iraq, and even Obama’s war in Syria. While the explosion of Foreign policy and the relaxed checks and balances system are some of the problem these wars weren’t as controlled by governments checks and balance system as they should have been, there exist many other factors that can explain this broken system. The most common being loopholes in the policies. Truman was able to get away with going to war in Korea by exploiting the policies in place by the United Nations. He stated that the matter was UN police action and was not considered an “American war” therefore did not need the consent of congress. Though by the end of the ordeal, it was anything but an American war Truman still was able to supply and execute his war. Obama also did similar loopholes when attaching Syria. The method he used was successful

The War Powers Resolution passed through the whole legislative process in six months from when it was introduced to the day it was signed into law. The veto voting took place quickly and effectively. The first five months the bill was debated and researched in Congress, but after sending it to the president it took under a month for it to become a law. This law was necessary to add an additional check to Nixon because of his highly unpopular involvement in the Vietnam War. This law helped to make sure the president was not doing whatever he wanted, but “one former US Senator noted in 2008 that no President had ever submitted the precise kinds of reports to Congress required by the Act despite the US’s involvement in numerous armed conflicts” (Nixon 7). Although it became a law and has had some success, the exact provisions are not being followed. The benefits seem to outweigh the costs because, following Nixon’s actions there was great distrust of the government and this attempts to limit the shady deals and actions of the President. Many presidents have opposed the law, but its main impact was a check on the

When drafting the Constitution of the United States the founding fathers took great precautions in ensuring that no one branch of government became too powerful. By dividing the power of each branch the fathers hoped to ensure that the United States would not become subject to abuse by one branch that could ultimately lead to an authoritarian regime. In order to do this, the drafters of the Constitution implemented a system of checks and balances in nearly all aspects of the new republic's government. One of these checks and balances was the distribution of foreign policy power between Congress and the President. This balance of power would be an important deterrent to one branch of the government abusing its power which could result in

Decisions that presidents had made previously with little congressional participation. Under Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. Congress is granted responsibility for caring out their powers as well as all other powers in the Constitution. This gives them the constitutional right to establish certain procedural implements for war proceedings. Thus, the central purpose of the War Powers Resolutions to restrain the president from unilaterally deploying U.S. Armed Forces. Constant with this intent, legislation imposed the president to report and consult with congress. More notably, it provides congressional supervision by permitting congress to force troop

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution assigns Congress the power to declare war. The President, meanwhile, derives the power to direct the military after a Congressional declaration of war from Article II, Section 2, which names the President Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. These provisions require cooperation between the President and Congress regarding military affairs, with Congress funding or declaring the operation and the President directing it. Nevertheless, throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, Presidents have often engaged in military operations without express Congressional consent. These operations include the Korean War,

The Constitutional powers of the Congress and President in matters of foreign policy has granted the president of the United States and Congress the power to develop the foreign policy. The President has the power to negotiate treaties and appoint representatives. An example to would be to think of it like you are the President of the United States. Now your job is to protect the people, the economy, and the military. We refer to this as 'national interest.' The power is granted to the president by the Constitution to hire a representative subject to the consent and advice of the Senate and to make treaties. The authority to recommend legislation to Congress is also bestowed upon the President by the Article II. To congress, this legislation advances foreign policy and the authority of the president to veto legislatures that he reckons pose a constraint on the national

The executive and legislative branch are always fighting for power. There are so many shared powers throughout the executive and legislative branch that the system results in being inefficient. A lot of powers written in the Constitution are vague and are not well laid out for either branch of government. The Constitution itself guarantees conflict within the Congress and the presidency. This is due to the fact that they have different goals and agendas. The President has a more national point of view while Congress has a more local point of view. Congress wants to gain support for their constituents. They do this through support from interest groups and even the voters themselves. When it comes to the presidency, the concept of strategic competence is set between rhetoric and action. It is one thing for a president to know history and political concepts, but to run a country involves having a lot of skill. Congress has the power of the purse and writes laws to reform or change bureaucratic democracies. Congress can limit presidential power by not appropriating money to presidential needs and can get what they want passed through bills and laws even after a President’s

With Congress, presidents have the ability to exercise two important kinds of agenda power when working to initiate policies which include, the ability of presidents to present policy which becomes the focal point for congressional action and the ability of presidents to exercise unilateral action as a way to alter the status quo. When one of these power moves occur, Congress is posed with a “fait accompli” which is a new presidentially made law and Congress must then respond. However, if an effective response is unable to be formed as to a decision, the president wins by default and can lead to conflict between the president and Congress.