Elizabeth Jo

speaker

2,299 appearances 6 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2025 last heard 27 Mar

Elizabeth Jo’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Mar 2026 with 1.

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99% Invisible · Constitution Breakdown #4: Janet Napolitano · 28 Nov 2025 podcast

The formal name of the War Powers Act is the War Powers Resolution, but it's actually a formal law that was passed over Nixon's veto in 1973.

Okay,

So the resolution doesn't actually give the president any powers at all.

Instead, you can think of the War Powers Resolution as a kind of a way for Congress to step in and ask for some coordination from the president.

Anytime the president wants to use military force and the president doesn't ask Congress beforehand.

So the resolution has several provisions, but here are the key points.

Section 4 of the War Powers Resolution requires the president to tell Congress within 48 hours, any time that American armed forces are sent into, and here's the specific language, which will be important for later, hostilities or into situations where imminent hostility is clearly indicated by the circumstances.

That notification to Congress is supposed to explain the legal authority the president is relying on to use military force.

So this is a formal, I'm telling Congress what I'm doing and why I'm using the military.

And the president is also supposed to estimate how long and extensive the military involvement will be.

So, of course, when these things happen, of course, Congress knows in this world of media, but it's a formal notification.

it.

So the second part of the War Powers Resolution that's important here is that within 60 days after that military action, the president is supposed to stop using the military unless Congress declares war.

It's not going to happen.

Or gives the president some other formal authorization.

Or there's some kind of national emergency because there's some ongoing attack on the United States.

Of course, that doesn't happen either.

Now, the president can extend this by another 30 days if he declares that there's some unavoidable military necessity.

So the War Powers Resolution has three important numbers, 48 hours, 60 days, 90 days.

And this is all meant to ensure that Congress and the president work together whenever the president decides, hey, I'm going to send troops abroad for some reason.

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