This article was originally published on Truthout.org.
On Tuesday, a group of House Democrats introduced legislation seeking to block the Trump administration from continuing its boat strike operations, in Congress’s latest attempt to wrest back authority over military operations.
The lawmakers, including top Democrats on foreign and military affairs committees within the House, said that the administration is seemingly preparing for war while still having not provided any rationale for its campaign. They introduced a War Powers Resolution, a type of legislation meant to allow Congress to reassert power over military actions, in hopes of ending the campaign or at least getting House lawmakers on the record regarding the strikes.
“The Trump administration has not provided a credible rationale for its 21 unauthorized military strikes on vessels in the Western Hemisphere, which have resulted in the extrajudicial killings of dozens of individuals. Nor has this administration explained why it has deployed an invasion-level force of roughly 15,000 troops, a carrier strike group, and military aircraft for a mission it claims is about counter-narcotics,” the group said in a statement.
“This posture is wildly disproportionate to the stated objective and far more reminiscent of preparations for war,” they went on.
The resolution would require President Donald Trump to remove the military “from hostilities with any presidentially designated terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere” unless it was approved by Congress.
The legislation was introduced by Representatives Gregory Meeks (New York), Adam Smith (Washington), Jim Himes (Connecticut), Bennie Thompson (Mississippi), and Jason Crow (Colorado). These lawmakers represent, respectively, the top House Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Armed Services Committee, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Homeland Security Committee, and Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) also sponsored the legislation.
The lawmakers pointed out that the administration has not provided evidence or rationale showing why it’s necessary to strike and kill people they accuse, without evidence, of being “narco-terrorists,” rather than intercepting and questioning them under the typical legal process.
Circumventing Congress to continue to carry out strikes without any justification to the public or Congress, the lawmakers said, is a show of the administration “grossly expanding” the executive branch’s power “to act as judge, jury, and executioner.”
The Trump administration has openly flouted legal procedures in authorizing its boat strike operation. Officials blew past a 60-day deadline earlier this month to obtain congressional approval for the operations, and claimed they can conduct their operation without Congress; the administration is reportedly working off of a memo from the Justice Department that effectively claims the White House’s word provides enough authority for its operation.
Previous similar efforts to block the campaign have failed in the Senate after being blocked by Republicans. Republicans may try to bar the House legislation from coming to a vote, in which case Meeks says he’ll use a discharge petition to force the legislation to be brought to the House floor.
“Congress has to stand up for what is our oversight and our responsibilities, and that’s the War Powers,” he said, per The New York Times. “It is Congress’s War Powers prerogative, and Congress has to conduct the real oversight on the administration’s policies.”Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been floating the idea of conducting strikes within Venezuela, with reports in recent weeks that top level officials are discussing the idea.
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