A bipartisan effort to control a president's ability to wage war

Wisely, the founders of the United States placed the power to go to war in the hands of Congress. Waging war has a very high cost in terms of money and human life. However, Congress has, from time to time, surrendered some of this power to the president in the form of Authorizations for Use of Military Force. Currently there are bills in both houses of Congress that would reclaim some of these authorizations to wage war. Senate Joint Resolution 10 is one such bill. This resolution has bipartisan support and our senior senator, Sen. Chuck Grassley, is co-sponsoring this bill.

I hope that Sen. Joni Ernst also will co-sponsor this bill. It is within her power to restore balance between the executive and legislative branches of our government. Being a senator, she understands why the founders reserved the power to wage war for Congress. Being a military veteran, she has seen the destruction that results from war. Now is the time for Sen. Ernst to step forward and join Sen. Grassley in publicly supporting Senate Joint Resolution 10.

George Bergus

Iowa City