Senate tries the Pontius Pilate route...

[Kaj]

It is easy for the Congress to pass bills that they know are "symbolic" only and avoid the real steps which are exactly their Constitutional responsibility. Congress is charged to declare war -- period. People can wave their hands and talk about precedent or war powers acts, but bottom line is that this is Congress's Constitutional responsibility. Sen Reid claims that they've fulfilled their Constitutional responsibility by passing a non-binding symbolic measure -- and this effort will be seen as a victory by many anti-war citizens -- which is sad, because it is clearly a defeat in that our leaders once again have clearly stated that they have no intention of fulfilling their charged duties, thus ensuring war is just as easy to get into and just as difficult to get out of...

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070329/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq

Senate OKs war bill with Iraq timeline
By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats ignored a veto threat and pushed through a bill Thursday requiring President Bush to start withdrawing troops from "the civil war in Iraq," dealing a rare, sharp rebuke to a wartime commander in chief...

It also orders Bush to begin withdrawing troops within 120 days of passage while setting a nonbinding goal of ending combat operations by March 31, 2008...

"We have fulfilled our constitutional responsibilities," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., told reporters shortly after the vote.

If Bush "doesn't sign the bill, it's his responsibility," Reid added.

[elwoodblues]

[ QUOTE ]
Congress is charged to declare war -- period.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just a couple of comments: 1) we haven't even done that yet 2) Congress does have budgetary responsibilities as well (though I do think they are walking a fine Constitutional line trying to set deadlines/etc.)

[Girchuck]

The Constitution gives the Congress the right to overrule the President's veto.
If this bill was so important, they'd do it

[AzDesertRat]

Congress can declare war, but the President doesn't have to do it as he is CIF. Conversely, the President can "declare" war, but Congress does not have to fund it. It is sort of a fine line.

As for this case, too little, too late--Congress should have done this when the current administration pushed the case for war. Of course, when you have a bunch of chickenhawks in elected offices around the county, it is hard to take anything seriously made by them.