Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) issued the following statement after a resolution “directing the President pursuant to section of the War Powers Resolution to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran” passed in the U.S. House of Representatives today.
“The President’s ‘ask for forgiveness, not for permission’ attitude has once again put the world in serious jeopardy. The President alone does not have the power to authorize acts of war. For almost two decades, Presidents have been exploiting a law passed in the wake of 9/11 intended to protect our country, not intended to open unlimited power for the President. The Constitution gives Congress the explicit right to declare war. I supported this critical legislation and have been working with my colleagues, including Congresswoman Barbara Lee, on sunsetting this outdated 9/11 law.”
Mark. You’re a idiot. Please do not re elect this tool
Uh…how many times did Obama use military force without Congressional approval? Stop with the politics and actually do something useful to increase freedoms in this country versus regulating it. Resolutions are not binding and serve no purpose other than to communicate where Congress stands on an issue…and we could already guess who is for/against this resolution. So again…do something useful and quit wasting our taxpayers money on nonsense.
Was there a complaint about Obama when he did same thing more than 1000 times? Unreal.
the articles I have read; all published before Trump… Obama did 2500 to 2800 misdle attacks w/o congress approval…. No outrage….. oh well… you’ll all be glad to know Pelosi is staying in DC and skipping the 9er’s game. Said she’s doing it for us.
Obama killed terrorists, and no I was not always in favor of that. The difference is this General was part of a Government, not lawless terrorists, do I mourn his death, no do I think he was an evil man, yes, however I think there were good reasons Obama and Bush decided to not eliminate him.
Why, WHY is this guy still in office?!!
Claycord, please ban this dumb jackass commie puppet
Banning anyone, whether the be far right or far left is not a good idea, freedom speech protects everyone. Now, if someone is crude, racist perhaps then, but I would say even racist has freedom of speech, crude not so much, because whatever they have to say don’t often pertain to the subject.
@Hanne- Please think before you write something that feels good but is potentially fatal to our country.
You would ban “crude and racists” but not communists?
We should definitely ban communists. Communists are responsible for the deaths of millions of people. They should actually be squashed like the insects that they are. Banning them is too good for them.
I don’t know if Mark is a commie, but he is definitely supporting the current Democrat party leadership which has been taken over by the far , far left who hate this country.
Patriot, define communism. You probably can’t or have an incorrect definition. FYI, most “communist” countries have been family businesses. There are all kinds of ways to have collectivist societies but there have been few in any truly “communist” countries. There have been countries with socialist programs but none purely communist. Without proper knowledge of what “communism” really is, one just sounds like a 1950s red fear rube.
Yes, Comrade – let’s ban those you disagree with…
That was useful Rob,another 1 cent comment.
Marky you’re a fool. God hope you get booted out on you arse.
To patriot I’m not really for banning anyone, when it comes to free speech, crude comments for the most part don’t add anything to the issue. No communists should not be banned, because it is a term used loosely, many American’s seem to think anyone to the left is a communists. I’m well aware of the history of communisms and how destructive that history is. You say the far left hate this country, how do you know that? Just because they don’t have the same opinions as you, and if we start banning comments from what you and others might seem to think is communisms, then someone will suggest we ban comments from the far right. I’m against censoring most speech, and erasing things from history, for then how will we know about the Nazi, communisms and other unpleasant facts.
Mark didn’t write this, it was given to him to post.
Mark is a slave to his betters.
If that’s the kind of man you want representing your best interests in Government, then please reelect him
Like Trump or not, he is the commander in chief. Taking out a ruthless terrorist is well within his authority. We tried Obama’s way of sending billions in euros, that didn’t work. Iran needs to be held in check. They only understand power and authority. Is a war needed? Probably not. Can we surgically take out some bad actors when we have the chance? Absolutely!
The money that was given to Iran was THEIR money. Am I a fan of Iran, not (being a strong supporter of Israel) do I believe we have to stand up to them yes, but it only makes sense to enforce the war powers act. I’m sure the Republicans called for same when we had a democrat for President.
@Hanne Jeppesen
Do you comprehend what your saying? So what if it their money, They wull use “their” money to kill us. Di you have some sort of Death Wish?
Hanne Jeppesen I remember many years ago when I used to think like you. Then I grew older and wiser. Well wiser a little bit. Fairness isn’t always the best policy. You have to think ahead.
We had to give them back their money.. They took us to court and sued us for it and we lost. We could’ve paid them then (and by we I mean us, you and me, every tax paying American) or later, after it had accrued even more interest, but we couldn’t get away without paying them their money. Most if not all of it went immediately to repay their debts to other countries they owed. Again, we were going to pay it then or we were going to have to come up with lots more later.
Obviously mark has no idea what he’s talking about.
Everyone on his blog ought to remind mark about what Obama did, and they didn’t complain one bit.
If the left didn’t have double standard, they wouldn’t have any standards.
Yes, I comprehend what I’m saying, however in reading my post, I can see that I misstated what I meant to say. I’m not a fan of Iran, I’m a very strong supporter of Israel. It seems Iran are mostly trying to kill people in their neighborhood, we are friendly with the Saudi regime, but most of the 9/11 hijackers came from that country.
Ricardo I’m in my seventies, I’m as grown up as I’m every going to be. I was born in Denmark towards the end of the German occupation, I know all about evil governments, fascist, communisms, and Nazi. This is why I’m a strong defender of free speech. A very intellectual Danish pastor and author (Kaj Munk) was apprehended from his home by the Nazi’s in 1944, the drove some miles away and shot him, all because he had written some plays that indirectly was critical of the Hitler and his regime. I was in US during some of the turbulent sixties (arrived here in 1967. I’m pretty much a middle of the road democrat and I resent if someone tries to paint me as some left wing nut job, and of course there are no right wing nut jobs (sarcasm). Denmark is a social democracy, we have free speech, private ownership of property and a businesses, is it perfect, no, do I want to see the same here, no I like capitalism, as long as it is a system with a conscience, but please don’t confuse social democratic countries with a communism dictatorship.
Barbara Lee? Yes Markie you do not have enough courage to do anything on your own. You make me sick!
Congressman – Thank you for your attention and comments on this important matter.
Trump is not my kind of guy. However, as an American I support these military decisions and those of his predecessors regardless of party.
Divisive political commentary makes us look weak in the eyes of other nations. We can’t afford to look weak.
Are you suggesting that we as a country speak with one voice? If so we are not a democracy. What makes us strong is that we are a democracy and have peaceful transfer of power, and that we have a very strong military.
No. I am suggesting we appear unified when facing potential enemies.
Mark is so proud he’s working with Barbara Lee. After 9-11 she was the only member of congress to vote against the Presidents authority to go into Afghanistan and take out the folks that attacked us.
She is a committed … moron.
There is something very wrong with Mark.
What about all of Obama’s attacks without congressional approval. Liberals are such hypocrites. Do as I say, not as I do.
Moron Mark is the perfect example of the dumbing down of America.
He’s nothing more than an actor playing the part of ‘politician’ who patronizes the reality TV Facebook iPhone worshipers.
God I hope he reads these post and realizes the disdain people have for him. He needs to go.
If enough people vote against him, he will be gone if not he won’t. That’s how our democracy works.
Oh, Mark, please just shut your pathetic pie hole. You are not now, nor have you ever been relevant. Congress passes an unenforceable, non-binding resolution. In short they squandered even more tax payer dollars and accomplished nothing. Typical. MAGA, KAG, Trump 2020!
Please Mark, just give it a rest….your lack of self thought and lapdog approach to Pelosi and anything she says only affirms why I will never vote for you again. To think we sent you to represent us in DC is a travesty of representation of our region. You’re an embarrassment; please return to the restaurant business where you belong and where you can make the best of those abilities God gave you. Leave the heavy lifting on foreign and domestic policy to others that can do a better job for the citizens of our area.
Nice to see there are still some patriots in the greater Bay Area. I’m referring to most of the commenters, not Marky-Mark and the funky bunch. Obama actually had a pretty good record of taking out terrorists, and as many others pointed out, never once went to congress for their blessing. Trump had no reason to. Obama’s administration labeled this guy a terrorist, AND he was planning attacks against US forces within a war zone. Any way you slice it, Trump was 100% within his authority as commander in chief taking this action. This, like everything else the Democrats have done since Trump was elected, IS PURE POLITICS.
Just like Mark said (or Nancy said, while she was moving Mark’s mouth), presidents have been doing it for almost two decades. It’s just suddenly bad when Trump does it.
Who elects clowns like Mark ? He’s done nothing for the people of Contra Costa, he just spews Democratic Party Lines, I urge Voters in the next election, Vote for anyone but Mark …
This should have been done long ago. Congress needs to reassert its authority.
Thank you A-A-Ron for noting that there are some true patriots in the greater Bay Area. We just keep a lot to ourselves and use our voice-hopefully when it comes time to vote these idiots out of office for good. That is if DMW can get the registrations correct for us legal US citizens.
I wonder if pelosi lubricates her hand and arm before making Mark speak?
The thinking people in California must vote out all these lying anti American hypocrites like Mark . Trump is not going to war . He is taking out terrorists that blow up and kill Americans and our allies . The democrats are supporting an evil terrorist regime against our country and our president . History will show that democrats like Pelosi ,Shiff and Shumer have made our world a more dangerous place .Mark you are a disgrace to our great country .Wake up people PLEASE !!
Although Mark is an idiot he is just part of the problem. The real problem is uneducated voters. When Mark is out they will put someone in office as dumb as he is. It is very disheartening. Look at the leaders of the Bay Area. It would take all of them to reach an IQ of 100.
Mark’s had another brain fart! Hey Markie, the President didn’t declare war on Iran! He simply ordered a surgical strike to kill someone who was dead set on killing our citizens!
Remember Mark, Governments first responsibility is the protection of it’s citizens. That’s exactly what he did. Again, because you’re kind of slow, HE DID NOT DECLARE WAR!
No one said Trump declared war – re-read his statement.
Literacy is in bad shape but we can’t allow it to die.
Rob – look at the 2nd and 4th sentences of his “statement.” Why would Marky have even alluded to it if he didn’t outright state that Trump “declared war.”
He’s claiming it happened without stating it.
It’s called critical thinking….
Both R’s and D’s have given far too much power to the White House, so they can avoid votes that they will have to justify later if it all goes to hell.
Both Sides only want to give the White House the authority to wage war so if it goes good they can claim credit for it and if it goes to hell they can say “The President did it”.
Rob,
I did and I read the same thing that I read before: “The President alone does not have the power to authorize acts of war.”……….”The Constitution gives Congress the explicit right to declare war.”
What part is hard to understand?
I’m rather disturbed by many comments here, ban this ban that. If things were turned around and Obama or another democrat were in office would you feel the same way. To test your true belief you have to imagine the other party is in power (right or left) and you would feel the same way. If not your are not being true to yourself.
Mark… Your basic and irrelevant..
I don’t believe that Claycord is set up so someone can comment with multiple names. However, I agree with you about the hateful comments, but I have no doubt these people exists, it is possible commenters are a little more bold in this kind of forum than they would be if you were to argue with them in person.
The term communisis, commie are thrown around too much, many don’t realize what a real communist is, even someone to the far left is not a commie. Also the idea that, because you are liberal, you hate this country is just is pure nonsense. .