Rand Paul or Mitch McConnell? Who ya got?
"The headline from Capitol Hill on Thursday is that
the Senate voted 52-47 to advance a war powers resolution to limit President Trump’s actions on Venezuela. The vote was a rebuke to the President, and Mr. Trump didn’t take it well, as you would expect.
The Senators in favor included five Republicans: Maine’s Susan Collins, Missouri’s Josh Hawley, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski,
Kentucky’s Rand Paul, and Indiana’s Todd Young. Most notable in that list is Mr. Hawley, who fancies himself presidential material but isn’t helping his cause by advertising that he’d be happy as President Gulliver tied down in the Lilliput of Capitol Hill.
But for our money the speech of the day was from Mitch McConnell, the senior Senator from Kentucky, former Majority Leader, and frequent target of Mr. Trump’s wrath. Mr. McConnell has been a consistent, thoughtful supporter of presidential powers, and he continued to stand on principle on Thursday.
Like many scholars, Mr. McConnell has doubts about the constitutionality of the War Powers Act that passed over the veto of a weakened Richard Nixon. But for the sake of this vote, the Senator accepted its terms and still offered good reason to vote no.
“First, plain statute: Notification of Congress within 48 [hours]? Check. Withdrawal within 60 days? Try 60 minutes!” Mr. McConnell said, regarding the time U.S. forces spent on the ground in Caracas. “What’s more, recent history provides clear precedent from Presidents of both parties,” the Senator added. “What authority did this operation exceed that President Obama or President Reagan did not exceed in operations in Libya? Or President Clinton in Kosovo?
“What makes this time different than President Biden’s strikes in Syria or Yemen? Certainly, there’s little daylight between the legality of this operation and the one President H.W. Bush undertook to apprehend Manuel Noriega in Panama.”
This is the history you know when you didn’t arrive in the Senate last Thursday. Experience and smarts count! Mr. McConnell, we should add, has supported Presidents of both parties on the war-making power no matter the doubts he might have had about a specific policy.
Mr. McConnell went on to say Thursday that “a stable Venezuela, led by duly elected Venezuelans, will leave Americans safer and more secure. The Administration should explain how that end goal will be achieved.”
Assuming the Venezuela war resolution passes the Senate and House, Mr. Trump can still veto and it won’t become law.
But the President should want to keep the country on his side, and he ought to thank Mr. McConnell for his vote and sound advice."
The best US Senator EVER !!