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Comment by enlightens

1 day ago

Only Congress can change the name of a federal department, so the Department of Defense is still properly called that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_14347

18 comments

enlightens

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hdgvhicv  18 hours ago

Only Congress can declare war but here we are with the department of war bombing a foreign country and capturing and assassinating foreign leaders.

  • leereeves  18 hours ago

    That policy changed a long time ago. The last declaration of war was June 4, 1942.

    After Vietnam, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution to limit the ability of Presidents to conduct military action without Congressional approval, but it still allows military action for up to 60 days. Every President since then has used that power.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution

    • input_sh  17 hours ago

      That 60 day limit was ignored so frequently in the past it might as well not exist.

      Pretty much every attempt at stopping the president (from Clinton onwards) ends the same way: house votes on it, senate might agree with the slimmest of majority, it reaches the president's desk, president vetoes it, it goes back to the senate where it needs 2/3 majority to overthrow the veto, and it never gets that 2/3 majority.

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    • happymellon  17 hours ago

      Even your link doesn't say what you imply.

      > It provides that the president can send the U.S. Armed Forces into action abroad only by Congress's "statutory authorization", or in case of "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces".

      There was not at attack on the United States.

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    • gchamonlive  18 hours ago

      So the president can wage war without the Congress, but it can't officially rename the department that supports these wars autocratically. That's interesting.

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