Release - Veterans Group Thanks Member of Congress Who Voted to Repeal Open-Ended War Authority

(Boise, Idaho) -- Dan McKnight, chairman of the advocacy group BringOurTroopsHome.US, today thanked those members of the Colorado delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives who voted to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). The AUMF has been the operating authority for U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as numerous other countries.

“Three presidents have turned what was supposedly a limited and targeted authorization for military action into a blank check for aggressive military action across the entire world, “said McKnight. “The executive branch and deep state have taken the position that one vote by Congress eighteen years ago is proper authorization for an entire series of wars. It is, as referred by many observers, a One Congress, One Vote, One Time power.

“This is wrong and clearly unconstitutional, and has become a near total abandonment by Congress of their Constitution mandated responsibility. The commitment of our sons and daughters to war and the expenditure of trillions of tax dollars have no legitimacy unless supported by the people though their elected representatives in Congress,” said McKnight.

On January 30, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted an amendment offered by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) to repeal the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq of 2002. The amendment was passed by a vote of 236 to 166. The motion was supported by eleven Republicans, with 27 members of the House not voting.

The action now moves to the U.S. Senate. While the Senate is not expected to approve the Lee Amendment, some members such as Sen. Mike Lee, (R-UT), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) are leading efforts to push for an up or down vote.

“The veterans and their families who comprise the bulk of our membership of BringOurTroopsHome.US call on Colorado's two U.S. Senators to support repeal of the AUMF and support a return to Constitutional principles,” concluded McKnight.

###