President Biden authorizes call-up of 3,000 reserve troops in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve
U.S. servicemen march to firing positions during joint military exercises at the Vaziani military base outside Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2016. President Joe Biden authorized the deployment of 3,000 reserve forces to Europe on Thursday. | Shakh Aivazov, Associated PressOn Thursday, President Joe Biden authorized the use of 3,000 reserve troops in Europe following the two-day NATO summit he attended in Vilnius, Lithuania.The summit was part of his five-day trip through the U.K., Lithuania and Finland, where he expressed a clear stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.In the White House announcement of the action, Biden emphasized the necessity to “augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility.”Biden’s order grants Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin permission to call up reserve units and send them into eastern European countries as the war in Ukraine continues
On Thursday, President Joe Biden authorized the use of 3,000 reserve troops in Europe following the two-day NATO summit he attended in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The summit was part of his five-day trip through the U.K., Lithuania and Finland, where he expressed a clear stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the White House announcement of the action, Biden emphasized the necessity to “augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility.”
Biden’s order grants Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin permission to call up reserve units and send them into eastern European countries as the war in Ukraine continues, per Military Times.
Although Ukraine has asked to join NATO, the U.S. along with other NATO members have said it wouldn’t happen immediately.
“It’s going to happen, we’re moving in the right direction, I think it’s just a matter of getting by the next few months here,” Biden said during remarks in Lithuania, per the Deseret News.
While meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on Thursday, Biden emphasized that “(Ukraine President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy ‘ended up very happy’ despite his expressed frustrations at the lack of a clear timetable for Ukraine to join the alliance,” according to Fox News.
Some Republicans, including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, saw Biden’s decision to tap reservists as a provocation.
Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, reacted to the news of Biden’s decision in a series of tweets, saying, “I’ve been trying to figure out what this means. Bottom line up front: President Biden is arguably walking the U.S. up to the line of war and daring Russia to shoot first.”
One Twitter user asked how to stop this from happening, to which Lee replied that although controversial, invoking the War Powers Act might be the next move Congress needs to make.
Another user asked, “Does the war powers act give Congress the authority to pull back executive war efforts?”
Lee said in theory, yes, but the president of the United States “can veto a resolution passed under the War Powers Act, so unless he decides not to veto 2/3 of both houses of Congress were willing to override his veto, it’s not going to work. That would leave Congress with the option of defunding, but that’s tricky too because spending legislation is also subject to presidential veto.”
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