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The Report of the Special Committee on the Termination of the National Emergency, also known as Senate Report 93-549, was a document issued by the "Special Committee on the Termination of the National Emergency" of the
93rd Congress The 93rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1973, ...
(hence the "93" in the name) (1973 to 1975). Its purpose was to discuss and address the 40-year-long
national emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
that had been in effect in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
since 1933. During the continued emergency, Congress voted to transfer powers from itself to the President. The debate to end long-running national emergencies ended in 1976 with the
National Emergencies Act The National Emergencies Act (NEA) (, codified at –1651) is a United States federal law passed to end all previous national emergencies and to formalize the emergency powers of the President. The Act empowers the President to activate specia ...
(50 U.S.C. 1601–1651), which rescinded the president's authority under the prior emergencies and established an expiration period (subject to annual presidential renewal) on future declared emergencies.


Content

The bulk of the report is an inventory of approximately 470 sections in federal law that extend emergency powers to the President and the executive branch. Before this comes an introduction discussing the history of how such a political situation developed. The committee noted that prior to Franklin Roosevelt, presidents had responded to emergencies through existing legal authority, or by seeking emergency legislation. Roosevelt took a more assertive approach, believing that the executive branch had a public duty to "do anything that the needs of the Nation demanded" except where the Constitution or laws prohibited it. In responding to the Great Depression and
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Roosevelt used declarations of emergency to signal his intent to broaden executive power, with the expectation that Congress (controlled by his own party) would ratify his actions. This pattern repeated under
Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
during the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
and became the backdrop of the Cold War. Reflecting on the situation, the committee observed: The committee's investigation found that while some declared emergencies had been explicitly terminated, others had not. These were: * Roosevelt's 1933 declaration under the
Trading with the Enemy Act Trading with the Enemy Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States relating to trading with the enemy. ''Trading with the Enemy Acts'' is also a generic name for a class of legislation generally pas ...
, which he used to block gold and silver transactions * Truman's 1950 declaration in relation to the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
(then known as the Korean Conflict) *
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's 1970 declaration in response to a postal strike * Nixon's further 1971 declaration in connection with floating the dollar Aside from these particular examples, the committee noted a trend since Roosevelt of transferring broad authority to the President in times of crisis and leaving it in place. The practical effect was to enable the President, as much as Congress, to make laws. The committee found that these longstanding grants of authority were not merely theoretical, but that executive agencies actively used them to justify various programs such as the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
's domestic surveillance program.Report, pp. 8–12 The report recommended that Congress should act to terminate the standing emergencies and to regulate the President's use of emergency authority.


See also

*
National Emergencies Act The National Emergencies Act (NEA) (, codified at –1651) is a United States federal law passed to end all previous national emergencies and to formalize the emergency powers of the President. The Act empowers the President to activate specia ...
* State of emergency *
List of national emergencies in the United States A national emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to perform actions not normally permitted. The 1976 National Emergencies Act implemented various legal requirements regarding emergencies declared by the President of the Uni ...


References

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External links


HTML Version

Discussion
from the
United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

Photocopies of the Original (pdf)
Reports of the United States government