Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Jan. 7, Sen. Rand Paul criticized his own party, arguing that Congress has abandoned its constitutional duty by allowing the President to initiate acts of war without legislative approval.
After establishing his anti-socialist bona fides ("I take a back seat to no one in my disdain and loathing of state-sponsored socialism. In fact, I wrote a book, The Case Against Socialism"), Paul puts the focus on the primary issue: “Whether or not socialism is evil, however, is not the debate today,” he said, according to a Responsible Statecraft article adapted from the speech and approved by Paul, and which includes the full video of his remarks.
The senator emphasized that the Constitution grants Congress—not the President—the sole authority to initiate war. He said: “bombing another nation’s capital and removing their leader is an act of war, plain and simple. No provision in the Constitution provides such power to the Presidency.”
Citing the Federalist Papers and debates from the Constitutional Convention, Senator Paul argued that the founders deliberately placed warmaking authority with Congress to prevent executive overreach.
He concluded that meaningful limits on warmaking require lawmakers—especially those in the President’s party—to actively defend Congress’s constitutional role.
“Vague faces, permanent smiles and obedient applause indicate the degree that the majority party has lost its grip and become eunuchs in the thrall of presidential domination,” he says.
