Democrats also helped pass two amendments that would make it harder for Trump to reduce troop levels in Afghanistan and Europe. The Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to declare war, which it has not done in countries where we are currently at war. It gave the president authorization to use military force in the Middle East in 2001, but there is considerable controversy about the extent of that authorization. Trump has not provided Congress with an annual report on his administration's view of its war-making authority, which he was legally obligated to do on March 1.
Congress has not demanded that report, nor has it declared war. And yet, in a bizarre inversion of its constitutional authority, the Committee passed two amendments barring a president from reducing military presence without Congressional authority -- in places where it never declared war in the first place!
One amendment, introduced by Democrat Jason Crow of Colorado, restricts the president's ability to reduce troop levels in Afghanistan unless he reports to Congress about the effect of troop reductions on a list of factors that is several pages long. This is a bureaucratic snarl and an exercise in predicting the unpredictable. It's clearly designed to impose an impossible burden, as is made clear by the requirement that all of the following officials must concur with the report:
+ the Secretary of State;
+ the Director of National Intelligence;
+ the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs;
+ the Commander of United States Command;
+ the Commander of US forces in Afghanistan; and,
+ the US Permanent Representative to NATO.
All of these officials must put their careers on the line by stating that none of the many bad things listed in the amendment will happen. How many people would take that risk? The amendment doesn't require them to declare that keeping troop levels higher will have no negative consequences, even though that is also clearly possible. This makes it clear: if you want to protect yourself, block these withdrawals.
The Crow amendment even requires the officials to certify that troop reduction "will not unduly increase the risk to United States personnel in Afghanistan." A complete withdrawal would reduce that risk to zero, but the amendment doesn't address that possibility.
The General's Veto
The other such amendment, from Democrat Ruben Gallego of Arizona, blocks the president from reducing troop levels in Germany and elsewhere in Europe until Congress receives separate certifications from the Defense Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that it would not threaten military and security goals.
To my knowledge, these two amendments are the first time a military officer (currently US Army General Mark Milley) has been given the power to overrule a president, simply by withholding his "concurrence." The president could theoretically fire him, but that would trigger a political firestorm.
It doesn't take a rose-colored view of Trump to see the dangers in this approach. Trump is no peace president. He hasn't ended our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite his campaign promises, and he has dropped more bombs in the Middle East than either Bush or Obama. He's brought us to the brink of war with Venezuela and North Korea, and he has heaped praise on brutal authoritarians like Bolsonaro of Brazil, Duterte of the Philippines, and Modi of India.
But Congress hasn't acted to end any of those threats and escalations. It has chosen to block the president when, and only when, he might reduce our military presence in other countries.
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