Revocable Repeal of the 2001 Iraq War and Implication for the Use of Force in the Middle East, as voted by Schumer and Kaine
Legislation was approved by the US Senate to repeal the war authorizations that supported the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 Iraq War.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been a strong supporter of the repeal, saying “there’s no justification anymore” for allowing these authorizations to stay on the books.
The action is symbolic since combat operations against Iraq ended more than a decade ago. Rather, supporters argued it was important for Congress to reassert its constitutional authority to start and end wars.
“I am opposed to Congress sunsetting any military force authorizations in the Middle East. McConnell said in a statement that the war against them was not over. “And when we deploy our service members in harm’s way, we need to supply them with all the support and legal authorities that we can.”
The historic vote on Wednesday took place despite a string of absences from both sides of the aisle, most importantly with McConnell still out, working from home while he heals from a concussion he sustained at a DC hotel earlier this month.
Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Todd Young, R-Ind., led a years-long bipartisan effort to repeal these authorizations for use of military force. Kaine said the effort faced indifference from the Obama administration and outright opposition from the Trump administration, but the political stars aligned under President Biden who has indicated he will sign it if it reaches his desk.
“President Biden remains committed to working with the Congress to ensure that outdated authorizations for the use of military force are replaced with a narrow and specific framework more appropriate to protecting Americans from modern terrorist threats,” the White House statement said. “Toward that end, the Administration will ensure that Congress has a clear and thorough understanding of the effect of any such action and of the threats facing U.S. forces, personnel, and interests around the world.”
Amendments by two Republican senators — Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah — addressing the 2001 AUMF were overwhelmingly rejected. Paul’s amendment would have sunset the 2001 AUMF in six months to force Congress to rewrite or repeal it, and Lee’s amendment would sunset all AUMFs every two years to force every new Congress to assess whether the war authority should continue.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the effort had been years in the making. The people in America are tired of fighting in the Middle East.
Senators side-stepped the more difficult debate about how to address the 2001 war authorization that was approved in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and has given broad legal authority to four presidents to conduct counter-terrorism operations around the world.
Reply to “Comment on Hopf Frequency Dependence of the Measures of State’” by C. A. McCarthy
McCarthy told reporters during a recent GOP retreat in Florida that he thought it had a good chance of passing the committee and getting to the floor.