Ten Republican members of the U.S. Senate have signed a bipartisan bill to repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force in Iraq. The new legislation, led by Senators Todd Young and Tim Kaine, seeks to repeal both the 2002 Iraq War authorization and the 1991 Gulf War authorization, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Additionally, the newspaper noted that this move represents the latest sign that lawmakers from both parties are gaining momentum in their efforts to reaffirm Congress's constitutional authority to declare war.
The legislation requires at least 60 votes in the 100-member Senate, meaning that at least 10 Republicans will need to join all 50 Democrats for the bill to succeed. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Wednesday to repeal the two authorizations that grant open-ended approval for the use of military force in Iraq. It is noteworthy that the Biden administration revealed weeks ago that it supports congressional efforts to repeal the military force authorization issued in 2002, bolstering lawmakers' efforts to withdraw the power to declare war from the White House.
