House to Vote on Repeal of 2001 War Powers

Similar Effort Narrowly Failed Last Year

Rep. Adam Schiff reported earlier today that his amendment on repealing the Authorization on Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed in the wake of 9/11 was going to be voted on tonight, but it will ultimately wait until Thursday.

Rep. Schiff pushed materially the same bill in July of last year, but it failed 185-236. President Obama has since given some support to the idea of repealing the AUMF, however, which may swing this year’s vote in favor of it.

The bill will be an amendment to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), one of over 100 amendments offered to the bill, which is itself also expected to come to a vote in the House Thursday.

The Senate also discussed the potential revocation of the AUMF today, where the State Department insisted the AUMF was essentially meaningless, and that the president had Constitutional authority to launch wars unilaterally without the consent of Congress.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.