(via Salon)
Happy Anniversary! Congress is about to celebrate a full year of dawdling over America’s war against the Islamic State by going on vacation.
Having despaired of passing a bill with “Cyber” in its name that nevertheless would do little to protect America against cyberattacks, the Senate just closed up shop for the summer. They’ll be back on September 8 for a debate about whether or not to reject the Iran nuclear deal in favor of starting another war.
So it was that yesterday, just before that month-long break, and subsequent debate on the next war, Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) tried to raise the sick contradictions behind the current one, the war against ISIS.
Kaine pointed out that Congress is actually obligated to take vacation, according to a 1970 law. “We not only get a recess, a vacation, as many Americans do, but we’re legally required to take one,” Kaine explained a rule he only learned in recent days. But there’s one exception to that rule. “The mandated recess — quote — shall not be applicable if on July 31 of such year, a state of war exists pursuant to a declaration of war by Congress.”
Luckily for Congress, it has a loophole. As an obviously frustrated Kaine emphasized as he ended his speech, “that exception only applies if there has been a declaration of war by Congress. Because we haven’t even bothered to debate or authorize this war, in the year since it started, we are still entitled, by statute, to take the month of August off.”
America is, as Kaine explained, at war. The campaign against the Islamic State started a year ago Saturday. Over that time, the war has cost $3.2 billion. Seven American service members have died. And the war is expanding. Obama is sending troops to a new country — Kuwait — to fight ISIS.