Led by Representative Paul Gosar, a handful of Republican members of Congress launched a protest against 41 nominal "national emergency" declarations, many of which are decades old.
Rep. Gosar has argued the National Emergencies Act is "tyrannical," granting 148 separate powers to the executive branch.
This July 18, the House voted down five resolutions to terminate national emergency powers which date back as far as 2003. The countries affected by the five resolutions include Congo, Yemen, Libya, Syria and Iraq. Each vote saw a coalition of pro-war Democrats and Republicans join together in overwhelming numbers to protect the executive branch's emergency authorities.
Among the emergency declarations still in effect is one authorizing war on Libya on the basis that Muammar Ghadhafi posed an urgent threat to the US; one enabling economic warfare on Syria on the specious grounds that Damascus sponsors international terrorism; and another allowing the president to support Saudi Arabia's military assault on Yemen, which resulted in the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe.
Yet another emergency declaration provides the authority for the US government to test biological weapons on American citizens.
Comment: 'Reap what you sow': A long time coming, the result should be damn interesting.