Washblog

FEINGOLD TO CHAIR JUDICIARY HEARING ON CONGRESS'S POWER TO END A WAR

January 25, 2007

Washington, D.C. - On Tuesday, January 30th, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will chair a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled, "Exercising Congress's Constitutional Power to End a War." Earlier this month, Feingold, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, became the first Senator to call on Congress to use its power of the purse to redeploy our troops safely from Iraq so that we can refocus on the global terrorist networks that threaten our national security. Feingold proposed this action after President George Bush announced plans to escalate our military involvement in Iraq despite the objections of members of both parties, military and foreign policy experts, and the American people.

"Congress holds the power of the purse and if the President continues to advance his failed Iraq policy, we have the responsibility to use that power to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq," Feingold said. "This hearing will help inform my colleagues and the public about Congress's power to end a war and how that power has been used in the past. I will soon be introducing legislation to use the power of the purse to end what is clearly one of the greatest mistakes in the history of our nation's foreign policy."

Witnesses at the hearing will include:

    * Louis Fisher, Library of Congress:
    * Prof. Walter Dellinger, Duke University School of Law, former Solicitor General of the United States
    * Prof. David Barron, Harvard Law School
    * Prof. Robert Turner, University of Virginia Law School

Who: U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution

What: Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing -- "Exercising Congress's Constitutional Power to End a War." Feingold will chair the full committee hearing.

Where: SD - 226

When: Tuesday, January 30th - 10:00 am ET

Senator Feingold's remarks from yesterday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting regarding the need to end our involvement in Iraq can be viewed and heard here: http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/statements/07/01/20070124.htm.

Our generation taught our children's generation - whether our kids are truly aware and appreciate it - that citizen opinion and action can vigorously and effectively shove the government in the right direction.

And a reminder, as we were told at the hearing, it was citizen action, not Congressmen threatening to withold funding, that stopped Nixon from tossing nukes into the VietNam war in late 1969 OR 70.