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Posted on 06/13/2018 11:15:18 AM PDT by jazusamo
A pair of Democratic senators on Wednesday introduced an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would stop President Trump from withdrawing U.S. forces from South Korea without the Pentagon’s input.
The amendment “would help prevent the President from making a rash decision about troop reductions on the Korean Peninsula that negatively impacts our national security,” Sens. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.) said in a joint statement.
Introduced for the Fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the provision would stop a withdraw “unless the U.S. Secretary of Defense certifies it is in our national security interest and would not significantly undermine the security of our allies in the region.”
The amendment was introduced following Trump’s announcement Tuesday that the U.S. would cease its joint military drills with South Korea as long as talks with North Korea are ongoing. The halted exercises seem to be a concession to Pyongyang, which has repeatedly claimed that the drills are practice for a strike against North Korea.
Trump on Wednesday continued to tout his decision to suspend the military exercises as he returned from meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
"We save a fortune by not doing war games, as long as we are negotiating in good faith – which both sides are!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
While a reduction in U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula was not on the table in discussions with Kim, Trump did say that “at some point” he wants “to get our soldiers out.”
Defense Secretary James Mattis on Monday said the U.S. will not pull any of its 28,5000 troops from the Korean peninsula.
“We’re not engaged in any reduction of U.S. forces talks, and I think we all wait until after this settles and we go forward,” Mattis said of the talks between Trump and Kim.
Duckworth said any discussion of withdrawing U.S. forces from the Korean peninsula must be tied to concrete and verifiable changes in North Korea’s behavior “and it must be done in close consultation with our allies.”
Murphy, meanwhile, said in the statement that he’s “freaked out that the president will order troops out of South Korea only for North Korea to, once again, break their word.”
“I’m all for bringing troops home when North Korea no longer poses an existential threat to our friends, but that day is a long time from now – and Congress needs to have a say,” Murphy added.
Grandstanding frauds...
More proof that the 17th. Amendment needs to be repealed.
Is there anyone on this planet who is not a Saudi Royal who has a bigger ego than members of our Senate?
Exactly!
What did the Hawaiian judges say? Because we know nothing is legal in the country unless the Hawaiian judges approve.
The Dems have all of a sudden become war hawks. Losers.
Didn’t Jimmy Carter want to do the same thing when South Korea was a $hithole?
That's a thing he is exceedingly unlikely to do in any case. But last I heard, the Pentagon works for him.
These two seem to forget that this President, unlike his predecessor, prefers to take actions the old-fashioned Constitutional way, not by so-called “Executive” action. Not to worry though, they will speak out against such “unconstitutional” actions—until another Democrat becomes President, that is!
It’s an attempt at a Billary, Inc. style “triangulation” move, attemtping to attract some foreign policy Hawks regardless of party and maybe, maybe, get some GOP Hawks swayed to agree with them, even if only in the November election by GOP candidates in “Blue” dominant districts.
Exactly.
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Some of these dimwhits will do anything to castrate Trump’s authority. I’m also suspecting that their unconstitutional rules will only apply to true Patriot presidents. Congress has been all to willing to conceed it’s power over the last several decades. Let them taste the results of those decisions.
Finally, where does the Constitution demand the establishment of the Pentagon, and make the US president submissive to their decisions?
It seems we have several Congress critters who don’t have a clue as to how our government is designed to work. And these same critters pointed the finger at Trump’s seeming ignorance?
What a bunch of Bozos! No wonder our country is in trouble!
The whole proposal is grandstanding. They couldn’t even put the words in to prevent him from removing troops from SK because they know they cannot do so. The best they could do is say Trump has to discuss it with the Pentagon first.
Since Trump is the CIC that is a non starter.
Well said, they’re grandstanding idiots.
Must bring money into their districts.
TDS is making them totally insane.
During WWII, didn’t Patton have to get approval from the privates under his command before he could give them orders?
/s
Oh, the irony! Trump has turned the Rats into hawks.
So now they care about national security? What a joke! This is their way of showing their hatred for Trump and their wish to scuttle everything he does.
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