I've been meaning to get to this item for a while but it still seems to be under-reported and worth mentioning now. Via Avedon, Stephen D at Booman caught a story in a local newspaper that appears to have been ignored by the mainstream press.
Guess who is proposing a "bi-partisan resolution to amend the War Powers Act and require Bush to get Congressional approval before going to war? Walter "Freedom Fries" Jones, Republican from North Carolina, along with 5 of his colleagues as co-sponsors. Three Democrats: Delahunt (D-MA), Abercrombie (D-HI), Brady (D-PA); and two other Republicans: Gilchrest (R-MD) and Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX).
Stephen has much more at the link but here's the key quotes from the local article.
The bill specifically prohibits presidential entry into future hostilities without congressional action except to repel and retaliate for an attack on the U.S. or U.S. troops, or to protect and evacuate U.S. citizens.
It would strengthen requirements for presidential reporting to Congress to keep members better informed, improve congressional oversight, and tie the purse strings of operations initiated without compliance.
Stephen advises "the only other media outlets to cover this story were Voice of America and The Huffington Post" and of course Avedon pointed to it but I haven't seen anything else in Blogtopia about it either. You might think that at least some of those 'serious' pundits of our media elite who are forever screeching about the need for bi-partisanship would have picked up on it, but you would have thought wrong.
Of course, as Stephen also points out, it will be bigger news if it ever reaches the floor. What do you think the chances are that Pelosi will find it to be politically expedient to do so? Yeah, I'm guessing close to zero as well. This is what I mean when I say both parties are screwing us.
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