A Presidential Strategy for Repealing the War Powers Resolution

Publication Date: April 1989

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): L. Gordon Crovitz

Research Area: Government

Keywords: National security

Type: Report

Abstract:

Instead of a law dictating specific procedures and reassigning constitutional rights, the country needs to return to the intent of the Founders of the Constitution. The war powers are "shared" by the executive and legislative branches, yet each branch has its own unique powers and responsibilities that must not be mixed. In particular, Congress has the power and duty to deliierate and make its views known, especially through the power of the purse, while the President must be free to act with dispatch to protect American lives and U.S. security.