On Fox News Sunday, Senator Barrasso of Wyoming argued that Congress should come back into session to debate America’s military action in Iraq and Syria. “I think the president has an obligation to call us back tomorrow to start this debate,” Barrasso said.
We have been adjourned until after the elections. This is the earliest Congress has adjourned in over 50 years. I don’t think Harry Reid wants this debate — or the vote. I think we have an obligation. The prime minister of Britain called the parliament back. No member of Congress should be left off of the hook. The Constitution is clear: Article I, Section 8, power is vested in Congress to declare war. If you go back to the founding documents of this nation, the decision of going to war was to be made by people closest to the ground: the elected officials. I think that the public deserves it. They should be demanding it. The president is putting together an international coalition; it’s time to put the coalition together at home as well.
Later, discussing the resignation of Eric Holder, Barrasso suggested that it would be unacceptable for a new attorney general to be confirmed in a lame-duck session of Congress. If Republicans win the Senate in November but Democrats use their final days to put in a new AG, Barrasso said ”it would be the first time since the Civil War that we’ve had a vote on an attorney general in a lame duck when parties switched.” This, he proposed, would constitute “Harry Reid’s final act in the tragic play that has been his legacy.”