WASHINGTON, July 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. former state secretaries called for return of war powers to Congress "where they belong" in an editorial article published by The New York Times on Tuesday.

    "The most agonizing decision we make as a nation is whether to go to war ... the founders hoped that the executive and legislative branches would work together, but in practice the two branches don't always consult," said James Baker and Warren Christopher in the essay.

    Baker served as the state secretary for George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1992, and Christopher took the same position in 1993 in the Bill Clinton administration.

    The two was co-chairing a bipartisan study group, the National War Powers Commission, which has proposed a new legislation requiring the president to consult lawmakers before initiating combat lasting long than a week, except in cases of emergencies.

    The group considered the 1973 War Powers Resolution that was passed in response to the Vietnam War "ineffective at best and unconstitutional at worst."

    Although many have suggested that the war powers resolution be amended or replaced, their proposals to do so have not gone very far, the essay said.

    Therefore, the proposed legislation by the study group, titled War Powers Consultation Act of 2009, "does not pretend to resolve the underlying constitutional issues" but to "reserve the ability of both Congress and the president to assert their constitutional war powers," it added.

    The study was begun more than one year ago when war powers became a central issue in the Iraq war debate. Democratic lawmakers tried to force President George W. Bush to end the long-lasting war.

    The panel said that it had consulted more than three dozen experts and would present its findings at a Tuesday press conference.