Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Ahead Of The Historic Passage Of Legislation To Repeal The Authorizations For Use Of Military Force Against Iraq

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the historic repeal of the 2002 and 1991 Iraq AUMFs. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Four thousand four hundred eighty-seven. Four thousand four hundred eighty-seven.

That is the number of American service members who perished in Iraq by the time the last combat troops departed in 2011, over a decade ago.

Joining them are over 32,000 American service members and civilians wounded in action, and tens of thousands more who’ve struggled—many to this very day—with everything from toxic burn pit exposure to PTSD.

It is with these brave service members and civilians in mind, and their families, and all who have been impacted by the war in Iraq, that the Senate today votes to repeal the Iraq Authorizations for Use of Military Force from 2002 and 1991.

The United States, Iraq, the entire world have changed dramatically since 2002, and it’s time the laws on the books catch up with those changes. These AUMFs have outlived their use. These repeals will not harm our service members abroad, nor will it hinder our ability to keep Americans safe.

Every year we keep these AUMFs on the books is another chance for a future Administration to abuse them. War powers belong in the hands of Congress, and so we have an obligation to prevent future presidents from exploiting these AUMFs to bumble us into a new Middle East conflict.

I’m glad that repealing these AUMFs has been a bipartisan effort, and I hope that this process can be and should be a blueprint for how the Senate works over the next few years. We will have amendments without being dilatory. We’ll have debate without stall tactics. And we will continue to look assiduously, diligently, for other opportunities to advance bipartisan bills.

There are many members and staff I wish to thank for making today’s vote possible, because this effort has been years – years – in the making. First, thank you to Chairman Menendez of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well Senator Kaine. To watch him work on this bill, not only day-in, day-out, not only month and month-out, but year and year-out, because he had such firm belief that it was the right thing to do, was a joy. Thank you also to Senator Young, who worked very hard to make this happen and brought so many of his colleagues along. And I want to thank staff who did the great work here too: Megan Bartley, Andrew Keller, Elisa Catalano Ewers, JC Jain, Nick Barbash, Lauren O'Brien, Brandt Anderson. And, of course, my staff. I’m blessed with the greatest staff in the world, as you’ll hear about soon enough, one of them: Lane Bodian, Meghan Taira, Mike Kuiken.

The American people are tired of endless wars in the Middle East. We owe it to our service members and our veterans, as well as their families and all communities impacted by the war, to repeal these AUMFs today. I urge a strong yes vote later this morning.

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