By Annie Shiel and Dan Mahanty
On March 3, the House Rules Committee held a rare bipartisan hearing on the erosion of congressional checks and balances on the executive branch’s ability to involve the country in war. The hearing was a welcome step in addressing executive overreach on national security and war powers, an issue that has garnered the concern of NGOs across the political spectrum. As Congress rightly seeks ways to re-establish sensible checks on the ability of a president to involve the country’s armed forces in hostilities, it should not overlook the need for proactive oversight of the kinds of arms sales that tend to directly implicate the United States in foreign wars.