The Senate on Monday cleared a final procedural hurdle toward repealing two Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF), setting the stage for a final vote on the bill this week.
Senators voted 65-28 to end debate on the measure to repeal the 1991 authorization for the U.S. invasion of Kuwait and the 2002 AUMF that paved the way for the Iraq War the following March. Sixty votes were required to advance the measure.
And House Republicans appear ready for a debate on the Iraq war authorizations, should similar legislation move to the floor in the lower chamber.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) signaled his support for repealing authorizations for both wars, saying he was “into it.”
“I don’t have a problem with that,” McCarthy said at a Republican retreat in Orlando, Fla., last week. “I was not here to vote on either of the creation of those, but you’re 20 years into this now.”
McCarthy emphasized he would not support a repeal of another AUMF passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack to fight against global terrorism, which has been used to authorize a number of military actions across the world.
The 2001 AUMF is not included in the House or Senate legislation.
The House Speaker is not the only Republican signaling support for the Iraq war repeals in the GOP-controlled House. Both Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) are co-sponsors of the House legislation introduced this year to repeal the Iraq war AUMFs.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
