Kentucky Sen. [crscore]Rand Paul[/crscore] promised Monday to introduce a “sense of the Senate” resolution that would declare that the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force does not apply to President Barack Obama’s military operations in Iraq and Syria.
“I will be introducing an amendment to the upcoming defense bill that will state in no uncertain terms that the President cannot use vague, out-of-date authorities to send our troops to war,” Paul wrote in a Time column. “My amendment will state that it is the sense of the Senate that the 2001 9/11 AUMF and the 2002 Iraq war AUMF do not apply to today’s war in Iraq and Syria and that if war is to continue there must be a new declaration of war by Congress.”
“Sense of the Senate” resolutions express the Senate’s opinion and do not carry with them the force of law.
“The Constitution explicitly gives the power to declare war to Congress,” Paul wrote. “But this administration still continues to use Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which was passed way back in 2001 and 2003, and originally intended to give President George W. Bush the green light for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11, as justification for continuing military actions abroad today.” (RELATED: Nobel Prize-Winning Obama Has Been At War Longer Than Any Other President)
“In his last months in office, you would think President Obama might be trying to wind down these seemingly never ending and growing series of wars. You would be wrong.”
“There’s no question that President Obama has been presented with a difficult task in fighting ISIS,” he added. But “no president—including this president—deserves this kind of extra-constitutional power.”
“Whether our next President is the hawkish Hillary Clinton or a more unknown in Donald Trump, the next Presidents should have their constitutional bindings restored. All presidents should.”