War on the Rocks: Operations carried out by the US military in Yemen are unauthorized by Congress

WORLD, March 20 (YPA) – War on the Rocks website published a report on Tuesday stating that the operations carried out by the US military in Yemen are not authorized by Congress.

“The Constitution is clear, only Congress has the power to declare war. President Biden must come to Congress and ask us to authorize this act of war,” Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said in a post on her X account.

According to the report, these members are exactly right that Congress is the branch of government tasked by the Constitution with approving warfare, not the president. The problem is that this is only the latest example of Congress focusing on the wrong question. The debate should not be, “Has this use of force been properly authorized?” The missing conversation is: “Should these bombings even be happening?”

The report added that the accountability process for President Biden focuses on the legal aspect rather than its substance in reality, considering that Biden is committing folly in the war on Yemen.

The report urged members of Congress to thoroughly investigate each case of war by holding hearings, questioning administration witnesses, and demanding evidence for the basic claims. When the executive branch is unable to convincingly justify the use of force on objective grounds, Congress must have the political courage to prevent it from moving forward by rejecting or revoking authorization and funding.

The report emphasized that “unless the same members who call for authorization build a large enough coalition to vote against a bad authorization, such an outcome will at best reduce the role of the legislative council’s war powers to mere rubber-stamping of what the administration has already decided to do through its authorization.”

E.M