The president is not to be entrusted with the declaration of war.
The U.S. has been constantly at war over the last two decades. Rather than go to the American people to justify new wars, however, successive presidents relied on past authorizations dating back to the 1991 Gulf War. Some of these enactments were flawed from the start. For instance, the George W. Bush administration backed its Iraq request with fake evidence of alleged Iraqi WMD programs.
Article 1, Section 8 is clear: Congress is supposed to declare war. The legislature’s consistent failure to do so is not a problem of institutional design or constitutional language. Rather, a mix of political ambition and cowardice have turned this fundamental requirement into a legal nullity.
Presidents want to make decisions unfettered by Congress. Control of the government allows the chief executive to manipulate circumstances. Command of the military allows him to order it into action, while generals obey the president absent extraordinary circumstances. Worst of all, legislators prefer to avoid responsibility, stepping aside when a president acts, applauding if the action goes well and carping if it does not.
read more at
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/congress-has-the-chance-to-end-endless-wars/
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