The conservative Heritage Action group that holds sway with Republican lawmakers is calling on members to back the repeal of the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force in Iraq, after the Senate took a step towards voting to repeal them on Thursday.
“Over the last several decades, Congress has allowed the executive branch to have nearly unchecked powers and unlimited authorities to act when it comes to the use of military force abroad,” the group’s Executive Director, Jessica Anderson, said in a statement.
“This constitutional reset would put Congress back in the drivers’ seat and force lawmakers to regain the muscle memory necessary to carry out its war powers and authorize military force in the future,” she said.
Authorizations for Use of Military Force, or AUMFs, became a controversial issue during the Obama administration, when it relied on the 2001 AUMF for the Afghanistan War and to deploy U.S. troops to Iraq and Syria in 2014 to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It had also been used to justify numerous other deployments and uses of military force in other countries.
However, throughout that time, defense hawks on the right and left argued that repealing the AUMFs for the Afghanistan or Iraq Wars would tie the military’s hands in addressing terrorist threats.
However, Thursday’s Senate vote to advance a bill to repeal the AUMFs for Iraq showed a new willingness in Congress to finally regain some war powers from the executive branch.
The bill’s fate in the House is not clear.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) recently forced a vote on a bill he authored to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria, but the bill failed, with 103 lawmakers in favor and 321 lawmakers against. Forty-seven Republicans and 56 Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
Gaetz voiced support for repealing the Iraq War AUMFs.
“I support the repeal of the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for use of military force in Iraq,” Gaetz said in a statement.
“I also support repealing the 2001 authorization for use of military force against Afghanistan, which neocons continually use as a global permission slip to start and continue foolish wars,” he said.
House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) also said he looks forward to the House voting on the Iraq War AUMFs.
“I am pleased to see the Senate is moving forward to repeal the decades-old and outdated Iraq AUMFs; I look forward to the House following suit,” he said in a statement, adding:
The framers gave Congress the grave duty to deliberate the questions of war and peace, and we have ignored that job for much too long. This repeal will not harm essential operations in the Middle East, but it’s necessary to ensure these now-obsolete authorities are not abused in the future.
“The American people deserve a focused military with a clearly defined mission, and they deserve a legislative branch that actually does its job,” Roy said.
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