Bob Menendez: “as Senators, our gravest responsibility is deciding when to authorize the use of military force because that is a…”

“as Senators, our gravest responsibility is deciding when to authorize the use of military force because that is a decision about life and death. It is a decision about sending our sons and daughters into harm's way. More than 20 years ago, we voted on whether to authorize the use of military force against Iraq. Decades later, we have a chance to formally end that war and claw back an outdated authority. When authorizations for military force have outlived the purpose that Congress intended, we should repeal them. We should repeal them to ensure that Congress determines when to send Americans into harm's way, so that our laws reflect current threats and protect U.S. interests, and to guard against future executive abuse. Now, it has taken a long time to get here. I want to commend Senators Kaine and Young, two esteemed members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who have been pursuing repeal of the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs against Iraq for years, and I applaud their relentless focus on this issue. As we mark the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, we cannot ignore its heavy toll. It destabilized the Middle East. It empowered Iran. It turned al-Qaida into a regional franchise. By some estimates, it killed more than a half million Iraqis. It was a war our partners in the region did not support, and it damaged American leadership on the global stage.…”