Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) excoriated several top Obama administration officials on Wednesday for telling Congress how the Constitution works at a Senate hearing, when the administration itself has routinely ignored the Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not particularly happy with being lectured to by the administration about the Constitution,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThis is an administration who I believe has trampled the Constitution at many turns.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an administration that seeks to legislate when it is not in their purview, whether it be immigration, whether it be health care, or whether it not be a war that\u2019s been going on for eight months without congressional authorization,\u201d he said, referring to the war against the Islamic State.<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s remarks seemed to be prompted by Secretary of State John Kerry, who criticized Senate Republicans at the hearing for sending an open letter to Iran that said any agreement on Iran\u2019s nuclear program would at some point have to be approved by Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo write to the leaders in the middle of a negotiation\u2026 to write them and suggest that they\u2019re going to give a constitutional lesson, which by the way was absolutely incorrect, is quite stunning,\u201d Kerry said. \u201cThis letter ignores more than two centuries of precedent in the conduct of American foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul was one of the 47 senators who signed the letter, and replied by saying that letter was really a message to the Obama administration that it doesn\u2019t understand that Congress has a role to play here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message I was sending was to you,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThe message was to President Obama, that we want you to obey the law, we want you to understand the separation of powers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI signed it to an administration that doesn\u2019t listen, to an administration that at every turn tries to go around Congress, because you think you can\u2019t get your way,\u201d he added. \u201cThe president says, \u2018oh, the Congress won\u2019t do what I want, so I\u2019ve got a pen and I\u2019ve got my phone and I\u2019m going to do what I want.\u2019 The letter was to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exchange happened at a hearing that was called to discuss the administration\u2019s request for authority to fight the Islamic State. But while this is a tip of the hat to Congress, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey, and Kerry all said they don\u2019t believe they need new authority anyway.<\/p>\n
Instead, they said authorities passed in 2001 and 2002 give the government the authority to fight the Islamic State. Paul cited that as just another example of how the Obama administration doesn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disdainful to say, well, you know, we want you all to pass something but it doesn\u2019t really matter because we\u2019ll just use 2001, which is just absurd,\u201d Paul said. \u201cIt just means that Congress is inconsequential and so are the people in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul criticized the administration\u2019s interpretation of its new request to fight the Islamic State, by saying it\u2019s far too broad, and has the potential to allow the government to wage war in several countries.<\/p>\n