WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2023) The US House of Representatives rejected five joint resolutions to end national emergencies declared by presidents over the past two decades related to situations in foreign countries.
House lawmakers on Tuesday rejected joint resolutions to end national emergencies related to situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
The national emergencies up for termination by the House were initially declared between 2003 and 2012, spanning the administrations of former US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The joint resolutions to terminate the national emergencies were sponsored by Representatives Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar and Eli Crane.
"The people of Libya deserve to live without the prospect of US bombings, attacks, or color revolutions thrust upon them by corrupt American agencies," Gosar said in a statement on his resolution.
The "real emergency" in Syria is the United States' presence there, Congressman Matt Gaetz also said in a statement on his bill. The conflict in Syria is tragic but does not threaten the US homeland or warrant use of unchecked executive authority, the statement said.
The National Emergencies Act grants the US president the power to declare national emergencies in order to invoke emergency powers, which can be renewed indefinitely. There are 148 statutory provisions available to a president through declaration of a national emergency, although 13 require declarations from Congress, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Such powers available to the president under a national emergency declaration include suspending the testing of chemical and biological weapons, utilizing public lands for military use, imposing trade restrictions and bolstering the Select Service military draft system.
