Congress clawing back war powers

March 25, 2023

This week, the Senate started debating legislation to repeal two war authorizations: one from 1991 that authorized the first Gulf War and one from 2002 that authorized the use of force in Iraq. The power to declare war lies with Congress, but Congress has surrendered some of its authority by allowing war authorizations to remain active indefinitely. We’ve been particularly concerned about the 2002 war authorization for the invasion of Iraq: That mission ended in 2011, but the authorization is still active more than a decade later. The executive branch has now used the 2002 war authorization to initiate use of force in areas unrelated to its initial purpose. If Congress does not sunset these war authorizations, presidents will continue to abuse them to initiate military conflict without the express approval of Congress. We’re pleased to see the Senate debating these war authorization repeals. We hope Congress will finally follow through and sunset these for good. We’ll be watching the space closely. MARK YOUR CALENDARS The Continuous Action Season 2 Join us starting April 6 for the new season of our podcast The Continuous Action. We’ll continue explaining some of the most important challenges to our troubled republic — and exploring the continuous action that democracy asks of us all. Catch up on Season 1 now! REPORT POGO 2022 Impact Report (Jul.-Dec.) Read about POGO’s accomplishments and impact in the second half of 2022. Read More LETTER Open The Government Coalition to Congress: Fix the Presidential Records Act Presidential Records Act establishes that presidential records belong to the public, but Congress must give this law teeth to ensure records are preserved. Read More QUOTE OF THE WEEK “I would certainly enjoy an all-expenses paid trip with my wife to an exotic destination overseas. But I’m not a member of Congress and I’m not claiming that it’s a part of my job to do that trip.” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Government Affairs Manager, in Bloomberg News OVERHEARD ONE LINERS “The weapons contractors and labs have leveraged world events to stoke a drive for new nuclear arms. Unfortunately, we could very quickly be in a place where there are no nuclear constraints on the world’s largest arsenals.” Geoff Wilson, Director of the Center for Defense Information, in Santa Fe New Mexican Enjoyed this weekend’s edition of the Weekly Spotlight? Forward to a friend. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Welcome! 👋 Subscribe here.   WANT MORE FROM POGO? Eyes on the federal government from every angle:   Paper Trail: Quick links to the news in the world of government oversight The Bunker: Military intelligence from POGO's Mark Thompson The Bridge: Wade through the jargon with Spurthi Kontham   🎧 The Continuous Action Podcast 📺 YouTube 📱 Instagram 💸 Support our work

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