Says Obama must consult Congress
Written by James R. Carroll Courier-Journal.com
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110405/NEWS01/304050085/Rand-Paul-scolds-Senate-not-debating-Libyan-action?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|HomeWASHINGTON — After scolding the
“There is no excuse for the Senate not to
Paul has been highly critical of President Barack Obama’s decision last month to use U.S. warplanes as part of an allied operation enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya and assisting Libyan rebels.
He sought a vote on attaching a sense-of-the-Senate resolution to a small-business bill. The resolution quotes then-Sen. Obama as saying in 2007 that “the president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry 
Reid then made a procedural motion, in essence to table Paul’s resolution, which carried on a bipartisan 90-10 vote.
On March 1 the Senate approved, by unanimous consent and without debate, a non-binding resolution urging the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
“This is a sad day for America,” Paul said before Tuesday’s vote. “We need to have checks and balances. Do we want an unlimited presidency, a presidency that could take us to war anywhere, any time, without the approval of Congress?”
Paul said he knows some senators are talking about a debate on Libya as early as next week. But he said the Senate was late in exercising its authority on military matters.
“I don’t think these are trivial questions,” the senator said. “But I am bemused, I am confused, I do not understand why your representatives are not down here debating such a momentous thing as going to war. I can think of no vote and no debate more important than sending our young men and women to war.”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war.
“This is how we guarantee that the people’s voice will be heard,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was among those voting against Paul’s resolution. McConnell said after the vote that Paul had raised “a legitimate issue for debate, a debate we need to have.”
McConnell said discussions were under way over the type of resolution the Senate would consider.
“Certainly the Senate speaking on this issue is something we need to do in the very near future,” he said.
if rand paul or anyone else voted no on the senate resolution it would not have carried. he could have asked for debate at the time. why does he pretend he did not vote for senate resolution 85?
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