Sen. Jeff Flake is planning to reintroduce an Authorization of the Use of Military Force against the Islamic State and other terror groups that would repeal the existing war resolutions and explicitly authorize force against ISIS, al Qaeda and the Taliban. | Getty Senators make new push to rein in Trump's military powers

As President Donald Trump increasingly flexes the might of the military he now controls, the Senate is reviving efforts to claw back some of that authority from the White House.

Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) are joining forces to reintroduce an Authorization of the Use of Military Force against the Islamic State and other terror groups, aiming to assert more congressional power over the post-9/11 war on terror. Elsewhere in the Capitol, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) are unveiling legislation Thursday that would halt a small portion of offensive weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in what Trump’s White House has touted as a $110 billion deal.


The bipartisan efforts aren’t new. Flake and Kaine pushed for an AUMF debate two years ago after President Barack Obama sent lawmakers his own draft of military authorization amid the conflict in Syria. And last fall, Paul forced a vote on a separate arms sale to the Saudis in Obama’s final months in office.

But the renewed efforts show real appetite among Democrats and Republicans to rein in some of the new president’s authority on matters of war, which came into focus with Trump’s missile strikes in Syria last month after a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens, including children.

Trump earned broad praise for the strikes from Capitol Hill, but lawmakers also warned against escalating military action abroad without first getting the approval of Congress. The White House has operated under war resolutions passed by Congress in 2001 and 2002.

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“When I voted in 2001 to authorize military force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks, I had no idea I would be authorizing armed conflict for more than 15 years and counting,” Flake said Thursday. “It is past time for Congress to voice its support for the war against ISIS, something many military officers and diplomats working to defeat ISIS have advocated for, and for Congress to reassert some of the authority it has abdicated over the years.”

Flake and Kaine’s proposed AUMF would repeal the existing war resolutions and explicitly authorize force against ISIS, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It would sunset after five years.

It also includes several measures that would exert congressional oversight over the White House, including more power for lawmakers to determine what can be considered as being “associated” with the three terror groups and to expand military action beyond Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. Kaine and Flake said they have a commitment from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) to take up the measure after the Memorial Day recess, which begins next week.

“It’s our constitutional duty in Congress to authorize military action,” Kaine said. “Yet we’ve stood silent as administrations have stretched the 2001 AUMF far beyond its original purpose.”

Meanwhile, the odd couple of Paul and Murphy are again promoting their efforts to block an administration’s arms sale to Saudi Arabia, which Paul announced he would do earlier this week. The duo failed in a similar effort to disapprove of a Saudi arms sale by the Obama administration last year, though they won bipartisan support, and Murphy predicted their numbers would grow as they take on an estimated $500 million portion of Trump's multibillion-dollar deal.

Paul warned that offensive weapons sales to Riyadh risk involving the U.S. in a Middle East "arms race" that amounts to engagement in a war without formal congressional authorization. Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Yemen's civil war, escalated in an effort to check its regional foe Iran, has raised major humanitarian concerns amid thousands of civilian deaths.

"[W]e still haven’t clarified whether we’re at war with ISIS," Paul told reporters, welcoming the opportunity "to have an overall discussion about the Middle East, which has been lacking here — about Saudi Arabia's involvement in Yemen."

Both Paul and Murphy indicated they plan to force a disapproval vote, using authority given by a 1976 law that gives privileged status to Senate resolutions objecting to arms deals.

The Obama administration canceled plans to sell the same offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia that Trump is now proceeding with, Murphy noted to reporters, adding: "There are no strings attached to this arms sales ... and thus these munitions we are selling to the Saudis will be used to increase humanitarian catastrophe on the ground."