Senate Votes Unanimously to Keep 2001 Authorization for War on Terror

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The Senate voted on Wednesday to give permission for the US military to keep fighting terrorism around the world. This vote stopped a proposal from Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky to stop these kinds of missions, which have been going on since 2001.

The Senators voted 86-9 against a plan, while discussing another plan to take away the two permissions given in 1991 and 2002 for using military force against Saddam Hussein’s government. This decision was supported by both sides of the political spectrum.

The government gave President George W. Bush special permission to go into Afghanistan and fight against the people responsible for the terrorist attack in America on September 11, 2001. This authority was much greater than similar permissions given before that were only related to one country, Iraq.

In 2001, the U.S. created a policy that is used to this day to protect America from groups like al-Qaida, ISIS and al-Shabab who are seen as a danger. 20 years ago, this same policy was used to start an invasion of Iraq. However, it hasn’t been used much since then, and some people want it removed altogether because they think it can be misused. President Joe Biden agrees with removing it.

Senators from both the Democratic and Republican Parties have suggested to keep, but change the law of 2001 which allowed the war on terror. It has not been really discussed yet though. The chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez said that before coming to a decision they need to talk about it more deeply.

Paul said that Congress should not only repeal laws related to Iraq since Saddam Hussein’s rule is no longer there. He added that if Congress keeps the law from 2001, it will allow war anytime and anywhere.

The Senate will soon vote on canceling the two Iraq measures. Earlier this week, 19 Republicans joined Democrats agreeing to continue with the plan.

It’s not certain if the Republicans in the House of Representatives, which is the U.S. government body that makes laws, will approve or reject a bill. Two years ago, when Democrats ran the House, 49 of them agreed on getting rid of Iraq’s authority over something. But now, Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California and Speaker of the House, disagreed when it was brought up then.

This week, McCarthy suggested he might support a bill passed by the Senate. However, it isn’t clear if House Republicans will accept that bill without any changes. Michael McCaul from the House Foreign Affairs Committee said he would rather replace two Iraq authorizations than just simply cancel them, but the Senate is likely to not agree with this idea.

Michael McCaul talked with Senator Chuck Schumer on Wednesday to consider different topics, such as authorizing the Armed Forces. Afterwards, he expressed his plans of making replacements and said that he’ll wait for the decision of the leaders.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and Indiana Senator Todd Young are pushing to pass a bill that would end the Iraq authorizations. Kaine thinks if it gets enough support from both parties in the House, they can approve the bill. Kaine and Young believe passing this law will help strengthen America’s partnership with Iraq.

Senator Kaine said that some members of Congress were now willing to support a repeal because they had a connection with it. Reporters Lisa Mascaro, Ellen Knickmeyer and Lolita Baldor provided information for this report.