Senate Votes To End Yemen War… Will Trump Veto?

The Senate has passed “war powers” legislation ordering the president to cease and desist his cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the destruction of Yemen. A House vote is expected soon, which would throw the issue to the president who has promised a veto. Will there be political fallout for a president failing to accede to the will of Congress on matters of war and peace? Tune in to the Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

42 Organizations Urge Support for AUMF Repeal

On March 13, a diverse group of 42 organizations from across the political spectrum sent a letter to Chairman Elliot Engel (NY-16) and Ranking Member Michael McCaul (TX-10) of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urging them to bring up Rep. Barbara Lee’s (CA-13) legislation to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force for prompt consideration in Committee. (Download the letter).

Dear Chairman Engel and Ranking Member McCaul:

We, the undersigned, are a diverse group of organizations with a range of missions and perspectives from across the ideological spectrum. We share a common view that the Executive Branch has expanded its interpretation of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) (PL 107-40) far beyond Congress’s original intent, in order to justify an ever-increasing number of military operations around the world. We therefore write to express our support for H.R.1274, which would repeal the 2001 AUMF eight months after enactment, and to ask that the Foreign Affairs Committee bring the bill up for prompt consideration.

The Framers of the Constitution, recognizing the Executive Branch’s inclination to war, wisely and deliberately assigned to Congress the power to decide whether, when, and where the United States goes to war. As James Madison wrote, “The constitution supposes, what the History of all governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has, accordingly, with studied care, vested the question of war in the Legislature.”

Continue reading “42 Organizations Urge Support for AUMF Repeal”

Support HR1004: The Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act

Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Just Foreign Policy:

March 13th, 2019

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

We write to request your support for the bipartisan measure, H.R.1004 – Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act, introduced by Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island. We respectfully ask that any floor consideration of legislation addressing the crisis in Venezuela include H.R. 1004, a critical safeguard against unconstitutional U.S. military action. The newly elected Democratic majority of the House of Representatives must make explicit in its first step of developing and adopting legislation on Venezuela that the Congress will serve as an effective counterweight to the militaristic and anti-refugee policies of the Trump Administration.

As you know, US officials in charge of policy toward Venezuela, such as Elliott Abrams, have pursued a strategy of provocation and confrontation. President Trump has publicly declared that all options, including US military force, are on the table. Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe recounted that in 2017, President Trump argued that Venezuela is the “country we should be going to war with. They have all that oil and they’re right on our back door.”

Continue reading “Support HR1004: The Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act”

War Drums: US Diplomats Ordered Home From Venezuela

Secretary of State Pompeo has ordered all US diplomats to return from Venezuela. Their presence in country is “constraining” US foreign policy, he says. Is this the pre-cursor to a US attack? What about the power outages in Venezuela? A US cyber-attack? Are the neocons about to pull the trigger? On today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Manafort To Jail – Not About Justice; Not About Russia

Former Trump campaign official Paul Manafort has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for acting as an unregistered agent for Ukraine. But looking at the media coverage of the case one would never know that “taking down” Manafort was not all about Russia collusion. Reporting… or propaganda? On today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.