February 16th, 2017
Sens. Lee, Paul Introduce Military Humanitarian Operations Act
WASHINGTON – Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the Military Humanitarian Operations Act today, a bill previously introduced by Sen. Lee and former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) in 2012. The Military Humanitarian Operations Act would require the president to receive congressional authorization before ordering the United States military on a humanitarian mission where hostilities are anticipated.
“The Military Humanitarian Operations Act is consistent with the Constitution and our Founders’ intent for congressional involvement and leadership in matters of war and national security,” Lee said. “Our military forces are the best in the world, and we owe it to them to ensure their missions have the greatest level of support within Congress and among the American people.”
“Our Founding Fathers understood the importance of co-equal yet separate branches of government. In recent years, Congress has abdicated much of its authority to the executive as it relates to committing our troops overseas or into harm’s way," said Sen. Paul. "I fully believe that Congress needs to reassert its role once again, including in cases of non-emergency humanitarian missions.”
This legislation follows a letter from Sens. Lee and Paul to then President-Elect Trump last month explaining the need to rebalance the sharing of power between Congress and the Executive Branch on national-security issues. Both Senators encouraged President Trump to work closely with Congress to determine our national-security interests and develop a strategy to protect them.
