{"id":59789,"date":"2020-07-14T17:15:52","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T17:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/14\/house-panel-votes-to-end-2001-2002-war-authorizations\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:28:11","slug":"house-panel-votes-to-end-2001-2002-war-authorizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/07\/14\/house-panel-votes-to-end-2001-2002-war-authorizations\/","title":{"rendered":"House panel votes to end 2001, 2002 war authorizations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 The House Appropriations Committee approved separate measures to end the 2001 and 2002 war authorizations, which underpin U.S. counterterror operations \u2015 the latest attempt<\/a> by lawmakers to curb President Donald Trump\u2019s war-making powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the panel\u2019s deliberations on the fiscal 2021 defense spending bill<\/a> on Tuesday, members voted on two amendments to the panel\u2019s proposed 2021 defense spending bill from Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel first voted along party lines, 30-22, to pass an amendment to sunset the 2001 authorization for use of military force within eight months, and then by voice vote, to repeal the 2002 AUMF. A third Lee amendment, also approved 30-22, would bar the use of military force in or against Iran, with certain exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee subsequently took a party line vote to send the bill, which would appropriate $694.6 billion for the Pentagon, to the House floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amendments are aimed at reclaiming congressional war powers by revoking measures three successive presidents have used to justify an array of operations in foreign countries without securing prior approval from the legislative branch. They likely set up a fight with the White House and the Senate\u2019s Republican leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee, an antiwar advocate, has pressed the issue for years and said Tuesday that under the 2001 authorization, \u201cany administration, Democratic or Republican administration, can continue to rely on this blank check to wage endless wars. … It\u2019s far past time to bring almost two decades of nonstop war to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee said that eight months was \u201cplenty of time\u201d for Congress to draft and pass a replacement for the 2001 AUMF. The 2002 AUMF, enacted to go to war against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, became obsolete when U.S. troops withdrew from the country in 2011, Lee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration, she said, has mulled inappropriately stretching the authorizations to fight Iran. In January, the House voted <\/a>to repeal the 2002 AUMF and to bar Trump from using federal funds to mount an unauthorized strike against Tehran \u2015 which Trump threatened to veto.<\/p>\n\n\n\t