Baker, Christopher aim to boost war powers

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By S.A. Miller

A plan by former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Capitol Hill lawmakers, who applauded the idea of playing a larger role in deciding when to go to war.

"I love that, as a member of Congress. It's a great idea," said Iraq war policy.

"I think we've learned the hard way that it is harder to get out of a war than it is to get into one, and we had better think twice," Mr. Durbin said, adding wryly, "In fact we ought to put it in the Consti ... oh, it is in the Constitution."

The Constitution grants Congress exclusive power to declare war and appropriate war funds, while the president, as commander in chief, has the sole power to manage battlefield strategy.

But the modern presidency has trumped Congress' war authority as the evolving definition of war led to a "police action" in Korea, an "undeclared war" in Vietnam and the Iraq war, which critics say became a sustained counterinsurgency mission that went beyond the invasion authorized by the Senate in 2002.

The plan presented Tuesday called for a new law requiring the president to inform Congress of plans for "significant armed conflict" or operations other than quick emergency strikes. A new joint House and Senate committee with access to classified military information would review the president's justification for war, and Congress would have 30 days to approve or reject the mission.

"What we aim to do with this statute is to create a process that will encourage the two branches to cooperate and consult in a way that is both practical and true to the spirit of the Constitution," said Mr. Baker, who served under Republican Iraq Study Group.

The proposed legislation was the product of a yearlong study by a panel led by Mr. Baker and Mr. Christopher, who served Democratic President Clinton.

"Given that the old-time declarations of war are either nonexistent or changed, I do think it is something to look at," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat.

Mr. Schumer said his view would not change if the likely Democratic nominee for president, White House.