Biden wants to curb his OWN power to launch military attacks after his Syria airstrike left ’22 dead’
PRESIDENT Joe Biden signaled a commitment to limiting his own war powers on Friday after ordering his first military airstrike last week that left 22 dead in Syria.
The White House stated it is “committed” to working with Congress on legislation to repeal current presidential war powers.
“We are committed to working with Congress to ensure that the authorizations for the use of military force currently on the books are replaced with a narrow and specific framework that will ensure we can protect Americans from terrorist threats while ending the forever wars,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted on Friday.
The Biden administration’s commitment comes after a bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday pushed for presidential war powers granted by Congress in 1991 and 2002 to be repealed.
Repealing the powers would mean revoking the president’s authority around military force in the Middle East.
Lawmakers introduced the legislation after some frustration over Biden ordering an airstrike in Syria on February 25 that was directed at militant forces backed by Iran that had attacked Americans in Iraq.
One of the senators leading the call for the legislation, Democrat Tim Kaine, said in a statement on Wednesday that the Syria airstrikes “show that the Executive Branch, regardless of party, will continue to stretch its war powers.”
“Congress has a responsibility to not only vote to authorize new military action, but to repeal old authorizations that are no longer necessary,” Kaine stated.
Psaki also tweeted that Kaine has been “a leader on questions of war powers” throughout his public service.
Kaine “has helped build a strong bipartisan coalition that understands the importance of Congress’s constitutional prerogatives,” she wrote.
Democrats and Republicans alike who have pushed for “forever wars” to end have tried to take away the president’s power to expand military actions in Iraq.
The legislation would not necessarily prevent Biden from taking military actions in other countries in the Middle East.
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Biden almost launched a second airstrike on Syria last week but refrained after learning that children were in the target zone.
The 46th president told the Pentagon to carry out another airstrike on Syria but changed his mind after an aide warned him about the children 30 minutes before the attack was slated to begin, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Biden’s February 25 airstrike involved dropping seven 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and killed 22 people at a crossing that Iranian-backed militia groups utilized to transport weapons across the border.