Syria War Powers Resolution
Floor Speech
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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force licensed the executive branch to conduct broad military operations, and Congress has disregarded its constitutional oversight powers as a result. Repealing these outdated AUMFs restores Congress' constitutional check on executive fiat.
The United States military forces are present in the Middle East pursuant to an Authorization for Use of Military Force that was enacted more than 20 years ago. At that time, Congress did not conceive that these authorizations would sanction an endless military commitment.
The United States is not the world's policeman, and it is incredibly unwise to promote this level of involvement in international disputes. However, Democrat and Republican Presidents alike have abused the powers of war granted under the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs, and Congress must act to reign back the executive branch's war authorities.
Further, continuing to dump trillions of dollars into these endless wars is irresponsible, runs contrary to American economic and security interests, and unnecessarily places American lives in jeopardy.
It is clear that the basis for the AUMFs currently in force have long expired, and Congress must fulfill its constitutional responsibility and ensure we are conducting proper oversight of the executive branch's military operations.
Now, I hear my colleagues on the left talking about leaving the Kurds and withdrawals, but yet, I note these are the exact same individuals that their party argues that it was time to withdraw from Afghanistan and leave our allies and Americans behind, something I know about, since I am the only Member of Congress who actually conducted the first overland rescue of Americans out of Afghanistan after they were left behind.
I also note that these are the same people saying that pulling away is going to increase ISIS' presence. Is this not the exact same government that said that nation building was a great strategy for Iraq? Is this not the same government who utilized and helped to implement the 2005 Iraq Constitution that implemented Article 76 that sets forth a sectarian democracy giving rise to Iran's political stronghold?
I have spent 7 years of my life in Iraq, almost 3 years in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Pakistan, northern Somalia, been blown up twice in 2006, a Bronze Star recipient, and a proud combat veteran. I can tell you that in the 20-plus years that we served in Iraq and Afghanistan, had it been a counterterrorism operation or counterinsurgency strategy, I could have fully gotten behind that. But we continue to play political football, and that is exactly what the dangers of AUMFs are. They allow people to basically do carte blanche with warfare, and that is not the intent.
In fact, I would argue that we have already lost the advantage, and we should be refocusing our efforts on what is happening at our southern border, where just a day ago, we had two Americans who were killed by what I would consider to be a worthy adversary, which is the cartels.
So we sit here today, and I am not going to talk about the arguments of the $86 billion that we left behind when we talk about the ISIS buildup.
Let's talk about the ISIS buildup. What about ISIS-Khorasan? What about the Haqqani network? What about the Taliban, who has $86 billion in weapons, armament, defense products, millions of dollars of pallets of cash? They are now the closest to being a true caliph with an actual sovereignty in its borders and a recognized government. That is who we need to be concerned with.
When I went to Afghanistan, I thought it was to help to fight from this becoming a safe haven of terrorism. Instead, we have actually promoted, funded, trained, and actually made it a safe haven of terrorism.
The American people are not about endless wars. The American people are about us being involved in things that we have control over. Unfortunately, due to the political football and the fact that it was the suits, not the boots, making the decisions, we have no clear military objective, and that is why this has continued to be a failure.
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