March 8 (UPI) -- The Senate will soon hold a vote to officially end the authorized use of military force in Iraq and Kuwait, which could close the books on the Iraq and Gulf War.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill to end military authorization with a bipartisan 13-8 vote on Wednesday, The Hill reports. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., comes after multiple attempts to repeal the authorized use of force. According to Kaine, passage of the bill would be significant because future presidents may otherwise be able to abuse their ability to send troops to either country, despite troops being long withdrawn from both conflicts.
"Although the 1991 Gulf and 2002 Iraq wars are over and Iraq is no longer an enemy, the Authorizations for Use of Military Force remain on the books," said Kaine in a statement.
"Congress has a constitutional and moral responsibility to repeal them so that future presidents can't use these authorizations as a blank check to send service members into harm's way. I'm glad we're one step closer today to repealing these outdated and unnecessary AUMFs. I welcomed Majority Leader [Sen. Chuck] Schumer's commitment to bring our bill to the Senate floor in coming weeks, and I urge my colleagues to pass our bipartisan bill so we can formally end the Gulf and Iraq wars."