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

The United States entered into an endless war on September 14th, 2001. On that day, Congress issued an Authorization for Use of Military Force (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 in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and Northern and Eastern Africa — often against groups that did not even exist on September 11th. And Trump has used AUMF to keep troops in Syria and Iraq indefinitely, also uninvolved in the 9/11 attacks.

If we truly want to end this endless war, we must repeal the AUMF.

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 “associated forces” at will on top of those countries/organizations/individuals named in the authorization. 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 reduce presidential power, not increase 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.