It was just last week that a group of House Democrats expressed their anger and frustration at President Joe Biden’s administration for opening up “migrant holding facilities” for minor illegal immigrants, marking the first real criticism against the new administration.
But now that anger has shifted to yet another hot topic that revolves around the surprise air strike against Iranian-backed targets in Syria that Biden, as commander in chief, gave the green light for.
According to Newsmax, a growing number of Democrats in Congress are demanding to know on what authoritative grounds did Biden permit the strikes without reaching out to Congress first. If that line of anger sounds familiar, it’s because they reacted exactly the same when Trump would authorize similar strikes, arguing that the White House lacks the authority to launch those strikes without Congressional approval.
Admittedly, it’s a little surprising that they would give the Biden administration so much grief, so early on in his presidency.
“The American people deserve to hear the Administration’s rationale for these strikes and its legal justification for acting without coming to Congress,” said failed vice presidential candidate and Sen. Tim Kaine.
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“Offensive military action without congressional approval is not constitutional absent extraordinary circumstances,” Kaine added. “Congress must be fully briefed on this matter expeditiously.”
Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, echoed Kaine’s concerns in his own statement.
“Congress should hold this administration to the same standard it did prior administrations, and require clear legal justifications for military action, especially inside theaters like Syria, where Congress has not explicitly authorized any American military action,” Coons said.
Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna chimed in with her own criticism, noting that Biden seems to be one of several presidents who have ordered strikes in the Middle East, adding that there was “absolutely no justification” for the strikes this week.
“We need to extricate from the Middle East, not escalate. The President should not be taking these actions without seeking explicit authorization instead of relying on broad, outdated [AUMFs],” Khanna said. “I spoke against endless war with Trump, and I will speak out against it when we have a Democratic President.”
Again, as much as it pains me to say it, I’ll always give credit where credit is due. I, and many others, believe that the White House has the authority to carry out precision, retaliatory strikes without asking Congress for permission. Having said that, I’m relieved to see that the same people who attacked Trump for similar actions are holding Biden to the same standards.
I may not agree with them, but seeing that uniformity is refreshing, to say the least.
Article Source : thefederalistpapers.org
