Tag: Congressional veterans

Having fewer veterans in Congress makes it less likely to restrain the president’s use of force

The following article by Danielle Lupton was posted on the Washington Post website November 10, 2017:

Research shows that military veterans in Congress, like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, are more likely to take an active role in overseeing a president’s use of force and military deployments. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

With four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger, debate has begun again about how much power Congress should have — or use — to oversee foreign military operations. That has included Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF).

But there’s another important question, as well: How and when does Congress rein in the president’s military decisions?

Scholars traditionally argue that Congress has done little to oversee military policy. But some new research suggests that Congress may indeed be able to constrain the White House in its decisions about when and how to use military force — especially, my research shows, if enough members of Congress are military veterans. Continue reading “Having fewer veterans in Congress makes it less likely to restrain the president’s use of force”