Incoming House Democrats are planning to use their new majority to force debate on war powers laws passed after the 9/11 attacks, and could pass legislation that would restrict President Donald Trump's ability to deploy troops, according to a new report.
"One of the things that I’m most concerned with is this blank check any president has based on the 2001 AUMF," Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. and expected new House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said in an interview, reports Politico.
He said he voted for the AUMF, or the Authorization for use of Military Force that was approved after the 9/11 attacks for then-President George W. Bush, but he did not imagine it would be a "sort of a get-out-of-jail-free card" for presidents.
With his move to withdraw troops from Syria and downsize the numbers in Afghanistan, Trump has been moving to scale down some of the engagements authorized through the AUMF.
Three presidents, since 2001, have used the AUMF to justify conflicts, including against ISIS, even while Congress has moved to revisit the laws, and House Republicans agree it's time to revisit the authorization.
In mid-December, the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution to stop military assistance for Saudi Arabia, but the House has gone in another direction, passing a rule to bar revolutions that limit military assistance for Saudis in Yemen.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who will chair the House Rules Committee, already has offered several bill amendments, but Republicans on the committee have "routinely denied them," he said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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