Surprise war vote points to shift in GOP
By Ellen Mitchell - 07/01/17 01:40 PM EDT No one was more surprised than Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on Thursday when her language revoking the administration's war authority was unexpectedly backed by Republicans and added to a must-pass defense spending bill.
“Whoa,” Lee wrote on Twitter following a voice vote that pushed through her amendment to sunset the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).
Lee’s measure, which prompted applause when it was adopted in the House Appropriations defense bill, would revoke the AUMF eight months after the passing of the defense act, forcing Congress to vote on a new law in the interim.
Lee for years has attempted to shutter the law passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but this week’s backing reflects shifting politics and unusual bipartisan support.
GOP lawmakers, growing more frustrated with years of unresolved military conflict, are now pushing to create a new war bill specific to current conflicts.
“I feel like my world is rocked because I see these very different opinions and yet I agree with you,” Air Force veteran Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) told Lee during the amendment’s debate.
“My friends in the military now . . .they notice that Congress doesn’t have the guts to stand up and have this debate and give them the authority with their continuing every day,” he added.
Stewart later told The Hill he has tried in the past to convince fellow Republicans to discuss a new AUMF, and the new shift is likely the result of having a new president in the White House.
“President Obama wasn’t interested in expanding this authority and he wasn’t interested in this debate,” he said. “Many of us believe we have a president that is more likely to help us on this rather than resist.”
The AUMF has been used by the George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations to justify a number of military actions, including the Iraq War and the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
While Libertarian outliers including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have pushed for a new war authority - arguing that any president needs Congressional authorization for military action - lawmakers have been stalemated for years amid myriad political and policy divisions.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, argued that the time is now for Congress to debate a new measure.
“We’re at war against an enemy that did not exist in a place that we did not expect to fight. How an AUMF that was passed 16 years ago — before I was in Congress — could possibly be stretched to cover this is just beyond belief to me," Cole said Thursday during debate.
Conservative experts weren’t able to point to one specific example that tipped Republicans in favor of an AUMF debate this time around, and said the outcome was likely the result of a myriad of frustrations.
Judson Phillips, the founder of conservative advocacy coalition Tea Party Nation, said “one of the sentiments among the grassroots has been that Congress has abdicated too much of its power to the executive branch.”
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http://thehill.com/policy/defense/340330-possible-war-authorization-repeal-reflects-growing-shift-in-gop
