Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. William S. Cohen
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. William S. Cohen
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. William S. Cohen (R - Maine).
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. William S. Cohen
Harold D. Donohue (D Massachusetts). The Chair will now recognize the gentleman from Maine, Mr. Cohen. William S. Cohen (R Maine). Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I will be brief on this particular issue. The basis, as I understand, for this article is that this constituted a usurpation of power by the President, a power properly belonging to the Congress. And I do not think that anyone here will contest that. I think the bombing was wrong, because it was done secretly, and it was done without Congress consent. But while this usurpation may have taken place, I happen to believe that the usurpation has come about not through the bold power of the President, but rather through the sloth and default on the part of the Congress, because over the years there was a good 10 years that Congress failed to take very strong action in this area in which we have the ultimate and sole control.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. William S. Cohen
William S. Cohen (R Maine). So what happened after the bombing was disclosed? What action did Congress take at that time? I can recall my first year in Congress standing in the halls listening to the countdown on the vote where that Congress finally determined to cut off the bombing in Cambodia. And I couldn t help but be impressed with the electricity in the air. For the first time, Congress was finally going to regain the powers that it had given up, again through its own sloth and default. So what happened is that last year Congress, rather than condemning the President for past actions they actually went ahead and ratified it in my opinion. They passed legislation which would have allowed the President to continue to bomb for an additional 45 days. Now, that to me was tantamount to ratifying a past act. And I can t see us imposing a double standard upon the President of the United States after having some complicity in this act. We come awfully close to the margin when we pass a law which says it is all right to bomb just for another 45 days but after that you cannot bomb and besides, we are going to impeach you for what you have done before. Now, that is what happened. I know the gentlelady from New York did not share in that vote, nor did I, and a number of other members on this committee did not, but the fact of the matter is that Congress did have some complicity, in my opinion.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. William S. Cohen
William S. Cohen (R Maine). And I would like to yield to the gentleman from Mississippi who wanted to speak on this issue and has not had an opportunity to request time. Trent Lott (R Mississippi). Thank you. I will be very brief. I do want to follow up on your comments. Congress had another opportunity to act when we passed last year the so-called War Powers Resolution, but the effect of the actual wording of that resolution, in my opinion, and in others that have studied this question, instead of really restraining the President did actually authorize resumption of the Cambodian bombing that Congress had tried to end. So it is obvious to me that Congress has to share the blame here. And I think once again we must look at the results. President Nixon did not start this war but he ended it, and the Cambodian bombing obviously was one of the things that was used to bring it to a conclusion. Thank you.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. William S. Cohen
William S. Cohen (R Maine). I will yield to the gentlelady from New York. Elizabeth Holtzman (D New York). Thank you. I just wanted to respond to the point on ratification. When Congress voted to cut off the bombing on August 15, Congress was not aware at that point of the secret bombing. The secret bombing was revealed on July 16, 1973, and the votes regarding Cambodian bombing took place prior thereto. There has never been a vote in Congress which in any way could be construed to have ratified that secret bombing. William S. Cohen (R Maine). I believe that article appearing in the New York Times showed that Congress had some prior knowledge about bombing activities taking place in Cambodia, but that is one of the bases of the argument that has been going on for the past 2 or 3 days about the need for the "Plumbers." Harold D. Donohue (D Massachusetts). The time of the gentleman from Maine has expired.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. William S. Cohen
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