(PresidentialWire.com)- On Tuesday, a House panel made significant moves towards stripping President Joe Biden of his war powers.
After years of claiming President Trump would plunge the United States into a new war, isn’t it ironic that Democrats are working to strip President Joe Biden of his war powers? Maybe they’re just as concerned as everyone else about leaving a man with his cognitive abilities in charge of America’s war strategy…
The House Appropriations Committee approved amendments proposed by Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee of California to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). The amendment, along with another suggestion to sunset 2001’s AUMF after eight months, were approved ahead of the consideration of 2021’s defense spending bill.
It’s important to note that these amendments have actually been approved before, but in the last few years the Democrats haven’t had control of the Senate, making it impossible to ultimately change how the U.S. government decides to take military action.
During a debate on the amendment, Lee said that it’s time to “restore the balance to this Constitution” and that “Congress needs to act.”
With a split Senate, and with a Democrat in charge of the White House, Lee likely has more of a chance of the amendments surviving negotiations in the Senate. It all depends if the Democrats can get 10 Republicans on board to pass it.
Biden’s recent airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia in Syria in February sparked discussions about the power the president has to authorize such military action. Just last month, Biden launched another airstrike, which sparked controversy among both parties.
And they accused President Trump of being a risk of starting a new war!
A bill to repeal 2002 and 1991 AUMFs are expected to be considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the coming weeks, so we’ll have to wait and see how those negotiations go.
2021 could be the year that the president is stripped of at least some powers to declare war…which might be positive in a Biden presidency but could prove dangerous in the event of a Democrat-controlled Senate when a Republican president needs to take quick and decisive action.
What do you think?
