By Evan Derkacz
Posted on January 31, 2007, Printed on February 2, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/evan/47445/The good folks at PoliticsTV videotaped this Senate Judiciary Hearing on Congress's Constitutional Right to cut off funding for the war on Iraq. There is no mealy-mouthed, namby-pamby speak here. In the Framers' brilliant design, Feingold says, Congress got the power of the purse, and the president got the power of the sword. They had the foresight to separate the two. Of Cheney's recent pronouncement that Congress could not stop him and Bush from the War on Iraq, Feingold responded: "In the United States of America the People are sovereign, NOT the president..." The video is over 7 minutes... And don't miss Glenn Greenwald's post on our Senators' shifting opinions of Congress' ability to end a president's war. As you'd expect, many who demanded that Clinton set a timetable for withdrawal are suddenly singing a different tune... He writes: "And Sen. McCain in particular made arguments in favor of Congressionally-mandated withdraw that are patently applicable to Iraq today. And he specifically argued with regard to forcible troop withdrawal that "responsibilities for that lie with the Congress of the United States." The Constitution hasn't changed since 1993, so I wonder what has prompted such a fundamental shift in Republican views on the proper role of Congressional war powers." Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs. © 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
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