Rep. Nadler Statement on Amendments Limiting President Trump’s War Powers

Today, I voted for two measures that reassert Congress’s constitutional responsibility to declare war and check the Trump Administration’s recent escalatory and dangerous military actions. The President’s ordered strike against Iranian General Soleimani earlier this month, without Congressional authorization, led us to the brink of war and served as a stark reminder of the costs of Congress’s depleted war powers as well as President Trump’s reckless approach to foreign policy. President Trump relied in part on the 2002 Iraq Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to justify the strike, an AUMF which I voted against and have spent years working to repeal. I was pleased to cast my vote today in favor of Rep. Barbara Lee’s measure repealing the 2002 AUMF, and to support Rep. Ro Khanna’s No War Against Iran Act, which prohibits any taxpayer funding for military action against Iran unless authorized by Congress. I urge the Senate to support these two amendments and restore Congress’s role as a coequal branch of government.