NEWS
Thursday, January 23, 2014
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Kaine promotes new war powers legislation Batten presentation focuses on bipartisanship, clarity in future international conflict reolution
Henry Pflager Senior Writer
Students and onlookers gathered in Garrett Hall Wednesday for a foreign policy address from Sen. Tim Kaine. Kaine focused his talk on a recent bipartisan initiative proposed by Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and himself, which, if passed, will usurp the longstanding War Powers Act of 1973. The War Powers Act allows the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of declaring war, but should Congress disapprove of the decision, he has 60 days to start the withdrawal process and 90 days to completely remove all troops from conflict. “In a number of instances, Congress never gave the President the authority
for military action,” Kaine said. “Most recently, President Obama committed U.S troops into a combat operation in Libya in 2011 as part of a NATO mission and never sought permission from Congress and was censured by the House of Representatives for doing so.” Kaine said that this lack of a political consensus violates the rights of the men and women who serve in combat. “We shouldn’t ask men and women to risk their lives on the battlefield if there’s not a political consensus that says ‘This mission is worth it,’” he said. “And if you don’t get Congress on board with respect to military action and there’s any ambiguity at all between the executive and the legislature, then you’re doing what I would think would be the most
horrible thing of all: asking those who are willing to serve, risk their lives, risk their health when the political branches of government haven’t done the work to determine whether the mission is worthwhile.” Kaine said he and McCain came together during the summer to try to figure out a resolution to the failures of the War Powers Act. “Number one … we put a very functional definition [for war],” he said. “War is the use of American troops in combat for more than seven days.” The bill would also create a “consultation committee” with members from both houses of Congress to discuss any potential upcoming uses of military force with the president, and then require all members of Congress
to vote on any war action if the
president wants to proceed.
Jenna Truong | The Cavalier Daily
Senator Tim Kaine was originally scheduled to speak at the University last semester. Tuesday he discussed a joint effort between himself and Senator John McCain to reform executive war powers.
Wexton wins Virginia state Senate seat in special election Inclement weather, campaign phone calls, recent redistricting in local areas causes widespread voter confusion Alia Sharif Senior Writer
Democratic candidate Jennifer Wexton claimed victory in a special election Tuesday for the 33rd Virginia Senate district in Northern Virginia, which was vacated in December when Attorney General Mark Herring won statewide office. Wexton defeated both Republi-
can candidate John Whitbeck and Independent candidate Joe T. May with 53 percent of the vote. Whitbeck received 38 percent of the vote, while May received less than 10 percent. Confusion about voting eligibility in Loudoun County and some parts of Fairfax county caused contention in the election — particularly voter cards predating redistricting in 2011, Loudon Registrar Judy Brown said.
“People were not familiar with what district they were in,” Brown said. “They were carrying old voter cards that indicated that they were in the 33rd district.” The candidates’ campaigns may also have contributed to the confusion. “People [not in the 33rd district] were reporting they were getting calls from the candidates encouraging them to vote,” Brown said.
Further complications arose because May has long represented the 33rd House of Delegates district, which overlaps, but does not align with the 33rd Senate district. Some voters in the house district he formerly represented believed that they could vote in the election. Snowfall also played a role in the the voter confusion. Because of unexpected weather conditions, schools throughout Loudoun County and Fairfax County were
closed, some of which were polling locations. The registrar anticipated confusion and sent out notices to remind the voters that the polling stations were still open. “We put out a press release and send out a text release [about] the snow to indicate that the polling places were open,” Brown said. “We should have specified that this only applied to voters in the 33rd district.”