Feingold to Hold Hearing on Congress's Power to End the War

On Tuesday, January 30th, Sen. Russ Feingold, chair of the Judiciary Committee's Constitution subcommittee, will hold hearings on Congress's power to end the war in Iraq. Sen. Feingold had this to say...

“Congress holds the power of the purse and if the President continues to advance his failed Iraq policy, we have the responsibility to use that power to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq,” Feingold said. “This hearing will help inform my colleagues and the public about Congress’s power to end a war and how that power has been used in the past. I will soon be introducing legislation to use the power of the purse to end what is clearly one of the greatest mistakes in the history of our nation’s foreign policy.”

Feingold also said that Democrats are being too timid on opposing the war in Iraq...

“It’s a walk in the park right now to oppose the idea of this war. It’s also very easy to oppose the escalation,” Mr. Feingold said. “They are once again being too timid and too cautious.”

Political Insider thinks the hearings are a good idea because it will force the media to discuss the issue.

As Sen. Feingold prepares to hold hearings on Congress's authority to cut off war funds, let's see if the media can keep a few questions straight: 1) will the Democrats really try to do this? 2) do they have the Constitutional authority? 3) should they -- meaning, is it politically smart and/or the right thing to do? 4) what would the real-world effect of cutting funding be?

Feingold is trying to hold an intelligent discussion on the issue and hopefully the media picks it up. However, it is more likely that the media will continue name calling and letting emotions prevent any actual discussion to take place.

I was originally against pulling funding for the war, but if Bush is deadset on putting more troops in harms way then I don't think he gives Congress any choice, but to pull funding.