{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-omar-joins-war-powers-letter-president-biden", "Rep. Omar Joins War Powers Letter to President Biden", "2024-11-01", "2024", "2024-11", "Democrat", "House", "MN", "Ilhan Omar", "O000173", "omar.house.gov", "omar", "https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON D.C. \u2014 Today, Rep. Omar joined a letter to President Biden, led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) and Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01), questioning the involvement of the U.S. Armed Forces in the Israeli government\u2019s expanding regional war across the Middle East, including in the ground invasions of Lebanon and Gaza, and the recent exchanges of hostilities between Israel and Iran.\n\nThe Biden administration has deepened U.S. involvement in the Israeli government\u2019s devastating regional war through comprehensive intelligence sharing and operational coordination, and now even the direct deployment of U.S. servicemembers to Israel. Not only do these actions encourage further escalation and violence, but they are unauthorized by Congress, in violation of Article I of the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973.\n\n\u201cAmerican military involvement in these wars has not been authorized by the United States Congress, as required by the Constitution and U.S. law. The American people have made it clear that they want to see an immediate ceasefire, an end to these wars, and the return of hostages, not deepening American involvement in potentially endless regional war,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.\n\nThe lawmakers asked President Biden for a detailed account of the United States military\u2019s involvement to \u201ccommand, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany\u201d Israeli forces currently engaged in hostilities in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, the West Bank, Syria, or elsewhere in the Middle East.\n\nSince the start of its genocidal campaign, the Israeli government has killed over 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 16,700 children, and displaced over 90 percent of the population. With complete impunity and a blank check from the United States\u2019 government, Netanyahu has now invaded Lebanon, where Israeli forces have killed over 2,700 people and displaced 1.2 million.\n\n\u201cThe Executive Branch cannot continue to ignore the law without Congressional intervention. In the absence of an immediate ceasefire and end of hostilities, Congress retains the right and ability to exercise its Constitutional authority to direct the removal of any and all unauthorized Armed Forces from the region pursuant to Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution,\u201d the lawmakers concluded.\n\nThe letter was also signed by Congressman Andr\u00e9 Carson (IN-07) and Congresswoman Summer Lee (PA-12).\n\nThrough a war powers resolution, Congress holds the power to direct the removal of any Armed Forces engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization. War powers resolutions are privileged, meaning that any member of the House of Representatives could force a vote on the legislation.\n\nThe letter is endorsed by Friends Committee on National Legislation, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Just Foreign Policy, A New Policy, Action Corps, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, National Iranian American Council Action, Peace Action, Institute for Policy Studies \u2013 New Internationalism Project, Presbyterian Church USA \u2013 Office of Public Witness, Common Defense, Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, The United Methodist Church \u2013 General Board of Church and Society, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action, and Center for Constitutional Rights.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T22:07:06Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-omar-joins-war-powers-letter-president-biden"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8081949781626463, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}