Senators voted 66-30 to officially repeal the 1991 authorization for the Gulf War and the 2002 AUMF that opened the door to the Iraq War the following March.
Senate passage means all eyes are now on the House, where a bill to repeal the two AUMFs has been introduced but has yet to advance out of committee. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and other Republicans have signaled support for the legislation, or at least interest in a debate on the issue.
The process in the Senate was a lengthy one. The chamber has spent the past week voting on a series of related and unrelated amendments.
Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), who co-sponsored the bill and have emerged as major champions of the repeals in Congress, argue Iraq is now a strategic ally of the U.S. in the Middle East and that repealing the AUMFs sends a signal of support to the nation.
In remarks ahead of the final vote, Kaine said Congress “rushed” into the Iraq War, with the 2002 authorization pending for just three days before Senate approval, compared to the two weeks of debate this month on ending the war authorizations.
“We have given dramatically more time in this body to the question of whether to end wars than … was given to the momentous question of whether we should start a war,” he said. “That is a lesson we should all absorb and learn from.”
The Gulf War ended in 1991 after a quick deployment of U.S. troops to repel an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The Iraq War ended in 2011, when U.S. forces withdrew from the nation.
While the U.S. withdrew from Iraq more than a decade ago, the 2002 AUMF has been utilized in recent years. Former President Trump cited it when he ordered the missile strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani three years ago.
Part of the push to repeal the legislation is centered on reasserting congressional war authority and providing a legislative check on the executive department as mandated by the Constitution.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
