Senate Finally Revokes the President's Authority To Bomb Iraq

This week, Congress came one step closer to actually ending an American war, for once.

On Wednesday, by a vote of 66–30, the Senate passed S. 316, the bill to repeal the two authorizations for the use of military force (AUMFs) against Iraq currently in effect. The first AUMF, passed in 1991, authorized the deployment of troops after Iraq invaded Kuwait, while the second, passed in 2002, allowed the president to use military force "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq." The resulting war would destabilize the region, killing thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

The repeal bill, barely a page in length, would not have any immediate effect: Neither AUMF currently forms the sole basis for an American overseas conflict. The Congressional Budget Office determined that "enacting S. 316 would not affect the federal budget." Nonetheless, it's a good sign that Congress is willing to reclaim its constitutional powers, even incrementally. And it shouldn't stop there.