Vote on ‘Protect The Guard’ bill tabled
McGeehan plans to ask again Monday for bill to be discharged
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WHEELING -- Delegate Patrick McGeehan wanted an up or down vote Friday on his “Protect the Guard” bill, and House of Delegates members voted narrowly to table it.
McGeehan, R-Hancock, said he plans to ask again Monday for the bill to be discharged and a vote taken. This time he thinks he will be successful.
House Bill 2732 seeks to keep West Virginia’s soldiers out of active combat overseas when no act of war has been formally declared by the U.S. Congress.
The vote to table the legislation was announced on the floor as passing with an initial tally of 49-47, with four members absent.
“I may get another shot Monday,” McGeehan said. “I think the folks missing would be with me”
Delegates Erikka Storch, R-Ohio, and David Kelly, R-Tyler, cast votes to table the measure. Voting against were McGeehan and Delegates Joe Canestraro and Lisa Zukoff, both D-Marshall; Phil Diserio, D-Brooke; Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio; and David Pethtel, D-Wetzel.
Missing were Delegates Mike Caputo, D-Marion; Joe Ellington, R-Mercer; Ray Hollen, R-Wirt; and Steve Jackson, R-Jackson.
McGeehan began his floor speech by saying the concept of not sending American soldiers into combat when war hadn’t been declared was “dear to my late father,” U.S. Air Force Col. Mark McGeehan.
The younger McGeehan also is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a veteran of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said he hoped to “force accountability in Washington” through his legislation.
“It seems the executive branch has usurped the powers of war the Constitution gives to the legislature,” McGeehan said. “The last time war was declared was in the summer of 1942 (against Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania) during World War II.
“You can’t tell me we haven’t been to war since then. Congress has since advocated its power on war to the executive branch.”
McGeehan termed the discussion “a worthy debate to have under the State House.”