"Trump is building on an interpretation of the law first advanced by the Obama administration to avoid WPR compliance in relation to the U.S. involvement in the NATO campaign against Libya in 2011. This interpretation posits that the WPR is inapplicable to hostilities that fall below the level of large-scale 'war' and involve minimal risk of U.S. casualties. Yet ironically, President Trump's assertion of inherent constitutional authority to start and continue this military campaign is exactly what the law was intended to cover."
"Enacted into law in 1973 over President Nixon's veto, the War Powers Resolution was motivated by congressional determination to prevent future presidents dragging the nation into a war incrementally. The context was obvious: Vietnam. For a super-majority of legislators, that conflict began and slowly expanded under the same premise: presidential assertions of inherent constitutional authority to commit small numbers of U.S. armed forces to low-level operations with limited risk:"
The administration informed Congress that ongoing hostilities against alleged narco‑terrorist groups do not fall within the scope of the War Powers Resolution. The administration believes the President's authority to continue the military campaign is not constrained by the law. The position builds on a prior interpretation treating low‑level hostilities with minimal U.S. casualty risk as outside WPR coverage. The War Powers Resolution was enacted in 1973 to prevent incremental presidential escalation into war after Vietnam. Legislators viewed Vietnam as escalating from small advisory deployments to large troop commitments under assertions of inherent constitutional authority.
Read at The Cipher Brief
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