This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Those who launched the horrific chemical weapons attack on civilian targets in the Syria, the one that filled the world's media with gruesome images of dead and dying children, fully deserve to have the fires of hell rained down on them.
But the American people deserve to know that the checks and balances of their own government are still operating. They deserve to have confidence that any president acting alone, even when motivated by an understandable revulsion at the pictures coming out of Syria, is not threatening to stumble into a wider war, pulling the rest of the country and the world with him.
That's why it was good to hear Utah's Sen. Mike Lee react to news of the American missile attack on the Syrian air base from which the chemical attack was reportedly launched with a statement reminding the administration, and the rest of us, that the Constitution still, after all these years and all those cruise missile attacks launched by administrations of both parties, places the power to declare war squarely with Congress.
"Anytime we send our young men and women into harm's way, the president owes it to the American people to come to Congress and present a plan," Lee's statement said. "The Constitution says that in order to declare war, you have to go to Congress and get approval. We want to hear the president's plan and have the ability to debate it."
That's the entire statement. No sabre rattling or jingoistic approval of the escalation of hostilities. Even when they are launched by a president of his own party.
Lee's a lawyer, not a general. His concern is the constitutional balance that requires congressional counsel and approval, through its power to declare war, its oversight responsibilities and its control of the purse strings.
In that, Lee is being fully consistent with his frequent calls for Congress to claw back much of the power that time and tide have pulled away from the legislative branch and left washed up at the White House.
For generations, presidents of both parties have experienced little pushback from Congress whenever they have felt the need to commit our forces — land, sea or air — to any situation. And that's the fault of successive congressional leaders at least as much as it is of the executive.
While presidents may be tempted by the powers and trapping of office to take firm action, members of Congress are as likely to stand back, express solidarity with the troops and let the president take the risk. And the blame.
That's not the way it's supposed to work. Lee and Rep. Mia Love have both called for full congressional participation in setting policy in this dangerous situation. Their voices should be heard. In the White House. And in Congress.