Senate advances repeal of 2002 Iraq war authorization
Biden administration officials are in discussions with lawmakers about revising the 2001 authorization for use of military force.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Comittee voted Wednesday to advance a bill to repeal a 2002 law authorizing war against Iraq, clearing the way for a vote in the upper chamber expected before the end of this year.
Lawmakers voted 14-8 to advance the legislation just one day after senior Biden administration officials publicly insisted the 2002 authorization is no longer necessary for US operations in Iraq or the wider Middle East, even amid tensions with Iran.
If passed and then signed by President Joe Biden into law, the bill introduced by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Todd Young, R-Ind., would also revoke the 1991 war authorization.
Both laws were intended to authorize military force against the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein, which was deposed in 2003 by a US invasion more than a decade after his army was driven out of Kuwait by a Washington-led coalition.
