Today’s Action: Take away Trump’s power to unilaterally wage war

Earlier this week and despite pleading from our European allies, Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal proving his government to be an unreliable negotiator even as he tries to make a similar deal with North Korea.

And he seems to be just getting started. Surrounded by war hawks and notorious for his compulsive, ill-informed decision-making, Trump has the ability to take unilateral military action, thanks to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).

The United States entered into an endless war on September 14th, 2001. On that day, Congress issued an AUMF, which gave then-President Bush the ability to use force against nations, organizations, or people he determined were in any way involved in the September 11th attacks.

Bush and Obama used the AUMF at least 37 times in 14 countries to justify military force, often against groups that did not even exist on September 11th. Now, Trump is using AUMF to keep troops in Syria and Iraq indefinitely — also uninvolved in the 9/11 attacks.

With Trump erratically in command, it is even more vital that we finally repeal the AUMF and stop this endless war.

Call or email your Senators and demand a repeal of the AUMF. Place the power to declare war back into the hands of Congress, where it constitutionally belongs.

Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) have proposed an updated AUMF. But their version expands Presidential power by increasing the identified targets and would allow Trump and future Presidents to add new targets at will. And all of this warfare could only be stopped by a two-thirds majority in Congress.

Try to imagine our current right-wing Congress vetoing Trump by two-thirds?

We need to mitigate presidential reckless, not enable it, and set the constitutional duty of war declaration back in Congress.

Email, call (202.224.3121), or tweet your Senators and demand a complete repeal of the AUMF. Our children under the age of 18 have never known a time that their country was not at war. Let’s try to keep their children from the same situation.