How powerful is the presidency in foreign policy?

How powerful is the presidency in foreign policy?

The War Powers Resolution Act of 1973 was an attempt by Congress to limit the powers of the President to authorise only 60 days combat. In short it hasn't really worked as presidents have sought to evade it. Only used twice and both times withdrawals had been announced. The War Powers Resolution requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30 day withdrawal period, without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war. The resolution was passed by two-thirds of Congress, overriding Nixon's presidential veto. The Obama administration authorised airstrikes which lasted for over 60 days.  Many in Congress saw this as a breach of the War Powers Act of 1973.  The White House is response, typical of administrations since the act was passed, claimed that the War Powers Resolution did not apply in Libya as action was small and fragmented.

The President is of the view that the current U.S. military operations in Libya are consistent with the War Powers Resolution and do not under that law require further congressional authorization.

From the New York Times:

In contending that the limited American role did not oblige the administration to ask for authorization under the War Powers Resolution, the report asserted that “U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve U.S. ground troops.” Still, the White House acknowledged, the operation has cost the Pentagon $716 million in its first two months and will have cost $1.1 billion by September at the current scale of operations.

The report came one day after the House Speaker, John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, had sent a letter to Mr. Obama warning him that he appeared to be out of time under the Vietnam-era law that says presidents must terminate a mission 60 or 90 days after notifying Congress that troops have been deployed into hostilities, unless lawmakers authorize the operation to continue.

Mr. Boehner had demanded that Mr. Obama explain his legal justification for passing the deadline. On Wednesday, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, said he was still reviewing the documents, adding that “the creative arguments made by the White House raise a number of questions that must be further explored.”

The escalating confrontation with Congress reflects the radically altered political landscape in Washington: a Democratic president asserting sweeping executive powers to deploy American forces overseas, while Republicans call for stricter oversight and voice fears about executive-branch power getting the United States bogged down in a foreign war.

In this video of the House Foreign Affairs Committee a congressman questions the deputy Secretary of State, Steinberg and try to get him to say whether or not he will stick to the War Powers act in Libya. Steinberg's noncommittal answers are characteristic of the way the administration has sought to evade the question of the War Powers resolution over the last two decades.