A Congressional declaration of war would, by law, put an exceptional amount of wartime powers in the hands of one person, the President of the United States. Fo

A Congressional declaration of war would, by law, put an exceptional amount of wartime powers in the hands of one person, the President of the United States. For what are hopefully obvious reasons, Congress has not chosen to go through with that. On the other hand, they have passed an "Authorization for the Use of Military Force" which is still current, authorizing military action in Afghanistan and wherever AQ or other terrorists groups might be found.