House Passes Amendments to End War Authorizations, Preemptively Defund Iran War
July 13, 2019 in News by RBN Staff
source: news.antiwar.com
by Jason Ditz
The flurry of amendments to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) moving through the House of Representatives is finally wrapping up Friday, where a series of Thursday night debates gave way to key votes early Friday on some contentious issues.
Major subjects of those debates included amendments that aim to end both the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF). The 2001 repeal passed 237-183, while the 2002 repeal passed even easier at 242-180.
Debates on the AUMF centered on concern that the authorizations could be used by President Trump or future presidents to authorize wars they were never intended for. The aim is to replace the 2001 version with something more current on the global war on terror, and to do away with the 2002 version entirely, since its main goal was to unseat the long-dead Saddam Hussein and conquer Iraq, now a US ally. Opponents of the repeals argued it would tie President Trump’s hands, and that other recent presidents have gotten to launch unauthorized wars without Congress getting in the way.
Which was also a big topic of the debate for another amendment, the preemptive defunding of any US attack on Iran that comes without an explicit Congressional authorization. This passed 250-170.
