Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), at a Thursday hearing of the United States House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, challenged Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel regarding the ongoing US war on ISIS. In particular, Jones complains that the US is engaged in the war despite the lack of a constitutionally required congressional declaration of war.
Jones also warns that, if Congress does some day consider authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) legislation, Jones expects that, like the AUMFs for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the ISIS AUMF will allow military action to continue without end.
Jones, a Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity Advisory Board member, highlights in his comments a quote from James Madison to illustrate how far the US government has strayed from what the US Constitution requires. Jones states:
And I do not understand how we in Congress can continue to abdicate what the Constitution says is our responsibility. Before I get to a brief question, James Madison once said, “the power to declare war including the power of judging of the causes of war is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.”
Watch Jones’ comments and Hagel’s reply here:
