Skip to content
quotesby

It is important at this point that Congress offer specific constructive approaches to what's proven to be a foreign policy disaster because we've got too much at stake to simply stand on the sidelines and criticize...If we simply cut off funding without any structure for how a redeployment takes place, then you could genuinely have a Constitutional crisis or at least a crisis on the ground where the president continues to send troops there but now they're being shortchanged in terms of armaments and support...The notion that as a consequence of that [2002 Congressional] authorization, the president can continue down a failed path without any constraints from Congress whatsoever is wrong and is not warranted by our Constitution.

Barack Obama#35

PolicyWarForeign policyAuthorityCongress

About this quote

What does it mean?
Congress must actively manage foreign policy to avoid crises rather than just criticizing or cutting funds blindly.
In plain terms
Lawmakers should fix policy instead of just cutting money.
What can you take from it?
Constructive legislative action prevents constitutional and operational crises.

Where it applies

  • legislative debate
  • war authorization

Putting it to work

  • drafting funding bills
  • supervising military operations

Questions to consider

  • How much power should Congress have over war?
  • Is funding a reliable tool for policy control?

Another view

Strict congressional constraints could limit executive flexibility in emergencies.

More from Barack Obama

  1. The U.S. military has performed valiantly and brilliantly in Iraq. Our troops have done all that we have asked them to do and more. But no amount of American s…

    Permalink to quote #34
  2. I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness in this, a certain audacity, to this announcement. I know that I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways …

    Permalink to quote #36
  3. I have been a consistent and strong opponent of this war. I have also tried to act responsibly in that opposition to ensure that, having made the decision to g…

    Permalink to quote #33

Related quotes

  1. Well, they're taking kids out of the country and sending them over there, National Guard kids and Army Reserve. They're sending kids who are barely prepared fo…

    Garrison KeillorGarrison Keillor quote #2
  2. As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else. It's being drawn to Iraq. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I …

    Rick SantorumRick Santorum quote #4
  3. Washington's adventuristic policy, whipping up international tension to the utmost, is pushing mankind towards nuclear catastrophe.

    Konstantin ChernenkoKonstantin Chernenko quote #4