Wrestling Over War Powers

摘要

What can you do with a congress that does nothing? a blue-ribbon com-mission headed by former secretaries of State James Baker and Warren Christopher suggested last week that the best solution to the problem of an overreaching wartime Executive and a supine wartime Congress is "more meaningful consultation between the president and Congress on matters of war." In a 72-page proposal to overhaul the 1973 War Powers Act, they essentially demanded that Congress grow a spine. As this is a surgical rather thana legislative proposition, it is unclear whether the proposed reforms can really get the job done.