Pasadena Now: Congressman Adam Schiff Visits Flintridge Preparatory School
Pasadena Now reports on Congressman Adam Schiff’s visit to Flintridge Preparatory School
Fresh off a Cromnibus vote and the recently publicized Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture, Congressman Adam Schiff (Democrat, House of Representatives) made time to speak to some of the youngest members of his district, Sarah Cooper’s 8th graders at Flintridge Preparatory School. They were joined by a generation of almost-voters, Christine Madsen’s AP Government seniors.
It all started in Cooper’s 8th grade history class, which has recently been studying the Constitution, particularly Article I, Section 8, which grants Congress the power to declare war, and Article II, Section 2, which states that the President is the Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces. Together, these articles intentionally divide war responsibilities among the executive and the legislative branches of the US government, except in times of crisis, when they might create legislation granting more power to the President.
Congressman Schiff addressed the responsibilities of Congress to hold the President to his constitutional limits, acknowledging that dysfunctions in Congress may prevent everyone from coming together even on topics where most people agree, such as the war against ISIS. Now that our country no longer faces nation-state enemies, but geographically indeterminate terrorist organizations, a new Congressional authorization would have to address important questions about scope and time tables.
Before heading off to his next function, Congressman Schiff answered student questions regarding the Torture Report, 4th amendment privacy issues with the government’s collection of cell phone metadata and more. Cooper asked her 8th graders to respond to their talk with the Congressmen, and they were uniformly impressed with his candor and command of every subject. Noted one student, “He took responsibility for how the Congress is being dysfunctional.” Another wrote approvingly, “(I) felt like he was talking to us as a real person and not as a candidate.”
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Source: Pasadena Now