{"id":17593,"date":"2017-10-23T14:36:03","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T14:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/10\/23\/schumer-its-time-for-congress-to-reexamine-war-authorizations\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:40:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:40:37","slug":"schumer-its-time-for-congress-to-reexamine-war-authorizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2017\/10\/23\/schumer-its-time-for-congress-to-reexamine-war-authorizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Schumer: It\u2019s time for Congress to re-examine war authorizations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Senate\u2019s top Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said he favors a re-examination of the country\u2019s legal authorizations to wage war amid controversy surrounding the deaths of four U.S. troops in Niger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments came days after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced it will hold a long-awaited debate on the nation\u2019s two authorizations for the use of military force, or AUMFs. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are set to testify in the Oct. 30 open hearing about whether the nation needs an updated AUMF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are in a brave new world. You know, there are no set battle plans. You don\u2019t declare war and fight three weeks later,\u201d Schumer, of New York, told NBC\u2019s Chuck Todd on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut having said that, the Constitution says Congress has the power to declare war. And if you\u2019re in a long-term war, Congress ought to keep that ability. So we need to re-examine this. We are on an AUMF that extends 16 years from right after we were attacked at the World Trade Center. So I would be for re-examining it. Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversy swirling around the deaths of U.S. troops in Niger, the president\u2019s interactions with the troops\u2019 families and whether the administration is being forthcoming about operations there has fueled talk on Capitol Hill about the president\u2019s legal authorization to wage war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said last week he was open to a subpoena to get answers from the administration about the troop deaths. On Sunday, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told Bloomberg TV he and McCain would receive a briefing on Niger this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSen. McCain is frustrated, rightly so,\u201d Graham said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know exactly where we\u2019re at in the world, militarily, and what we\u2019re doing. So John McCain is going to try to create a new system to make sure that we can answer the question why we were there. We\u2019ll know how many soldiers are there, and if somebody gets killed there, that we won\u2019t find out about it in the paper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration relies on authorizations from 2001 and 2002 for the current military campaign against the Islamic State group as well as other contingencies around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, lawmakers have wrestled with a new AUMF for years. The Trump administration is not seeking a new AUMF, but members of Congress argue the old ones do not provide a sound legal basis for current operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the Senate voted 61-36 to scuttle aproposalfrom Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to repeal the authorizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schumer said Sunday he agreed with Paul \u201cthat we ought to look at this carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most recently, a bipartisan group of veterans on the House Armed Services Committee offered<\/a> a replacement AUMF earlier this month. One of the co-sponsors, Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Iraq veteran, hoped there would be new momentum and bipartisan support for the proposal this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor one, there are a lot of members of Congress who were surprised we have troops in Niger, and the reason they\u2019re surprised is with an expansive AUMF, there are no checks and balances, and there is no reason for [the administration] to come and talk to you,\u201d Gallego said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe should find a responsible way to curtail not just the president but the Department of Defense to wage war without end, without oversight from Congress \u2014 which is our duty under the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t