Senate Moves 1 Step Closer to Repeal of Iraq War Authorizations

The U.S. Senate voted in favor of a bipartisan bill to repeal U.S. authorizations for war against Iraq.

The Senate voted, 68–27, on March 16 to invoke cloture, surpassing the needed 60-vote threshold, on a measure that would undo the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs). The first permitted the United States’ entry into the Gulf War. There, Saddam Hussein and his forces were expelled out of Kuwait by the Kuwaiti government. After reports that Hussein had weapons-of-mass destruction, the second allowed the U.S. to enter Iraq. In 2003, the United States captured Hussein and executed him in Iraq.

Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D.N.Y.), applauded the bill before it was even put to the vote. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Todd Young, R-Ind.).

“Now almost 20 years to the day that U.S. Military operations began in Iraq, the United States Senate begins the process of repealing the Iraq AUMFs, the ones of 2002 and 1991, putting the final remnants of those conflicts squarely behind us,” Schumer spoke. “The United States, the nation of Iraq, and the entire world have changed dramatically since 2002 and it’s time the laws on the books catch up with these changes. The Iraq War has itself been long over.”

Schumer voted both for the 2002 and 1991 AUMFs.

Schumer said that “Americans are tired of endless wars in the Middle East.” He stated that if the AUMFs of 2002 and 1991 are not repealed, future administrations might abuse them, bypassing Congress’s sole authority to declare War in accordance with Article 1 of the Constitution.

Dick Durbin (D.Ill.), Senate Majority Whip, stated in his remarks prior to the vote that the repeals would not make America stronger. “a pacifist nation,” Instead, it would make America great again “a Constitutional nation.”

Senator Bob Menendez (D.N.J.), who is the chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated that the United States’ response against the Iranian threat would not be affected by the repealing of the AUMFs from 1991 and 2002.

According to a White House statement, President Joe Biden supports the repeal of the AUMFs from 1991 and 2002.

According to the administration, “the United States conducts no ongoing military activities that rely primarily on the 2002 AUMF, and no ongoing military activities that rely on the 1991 AUMF, as a domestic legal basis.

“The U.S. would not have to stop current military operations. Repeal would be a support for the Administration’s commitments to strong and comprehensive relations with our Iraqi counterparts. This partnership includes cooperation with the Iraqi Security Forces and is continuing at the request of the Government of Iraq in an advisory, assist, enable role.”

While the bill is set to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate next week, its fate in the GOP-controlled House is less certain.