Prominent Senate Republicans are warning House Speaker Kevin McCarthy\u2002(R-Calif.) not to hold a vote on a Senate-passed bill repealing authorization for the use of military force in Iraq without making major changes to it, laying bare the growing Republican divide over national security.
McCarthy faces a tough decision after 18 Republican senators voted with 45 Democrats and three Democratic-aligned Independents Wednesday to repeal the war authorizations Congress passed in 1991 and 2002, sending it to the House.
Some Republicans see the internal rift over repealing the authorization for use of military force (AUMF) as part of a larger battle within the party over America\u2019s role in maintaining global order and future defense spending, as well as support for the war in Ukraine.
\u201cThe battle is really within the Republican Party, and I think the majority of Republican voters are for less intervention and less spending overseas,\u201d said Sen. Rand Paul\u2002(R-Ky.), who voted to repeal the authorization for use of military force in Iraq.
Paul thinks the majority of Senate Republicans who voted against repealing the military authorization and who support funding for the war in Ukraine are out of step with GOP voters.
\u201cIf you start to ask where\u2019s the caucus for continued funding or unlimited funding \u2014 so it seems \u2014 for Ukraine, I think probably 60 percent, 70 percent of Republicans at home are not for that,\u201d he said.
Paul pointed out that former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the two front-runners for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, are \u201cskeptical\u201d of policies extending U.S. intervention in other parts of the world. But he said that Senate Republican leaders remain staunch proponents of projecting U.S. military power throughout the world and supporting the war in Ukraine.
Republicans are also deeply divided over curbing defense spending as part of a deficit-reduction deal with Democrats.
McCarthy told reporters last week that he didn\u2019t have a problem with repealing the authorizations but has since come under pressure from Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.).
The Senate bill will likely pass the House if it comes up for a vote unchanged.
An overwhelming majority of House Democrats are expected to vote for it, and between a third and half of House Republicans may support it as well.
That would hand a political win to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and other Democrats and divide Republicans in the House, like it did the Senate.
\u201cThe American people, as we know, are tired of endless wars in the Middle East. Every year we keep these AUMFs on the books is another chance for future administrations to abuse them,\u201d Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
A majority of Republican senators voted Wednesday against the bill, which McConnell warned would make it easier for Iran to push U.S. troops and personnel out of Iraq and Syria.
Our terrorist enemies aren\u2019t sunsetting their war against us,\u201d he said in a statement Tuesday. \u201cTehran wants to push us out of Iraq and Syria. Why should Congress make that easier?\u201d
Other Republicans who opposed the measure say it would put U.S. troops at greater risk of attack.
Sen. Lindsey Graham\u2002(R-S.C.) said that \u201cabout 70 percent of our conference wanted to replace [the war authorizations] with something\u201d to deter Iranian aggression in the region instead of flat-out repealing them.
No matter how well intentioned you are here, it\u2019s going to be seen as we\u2019re leaving\u201d Iraq, Graham said, which he argued would build on the narrative pushed by China and other adversaries that the United States is an unreliable ally.
\u201cI hope the House will change this dramatically, because in its current form it\u2019s a very bad idea,\u201d he said, adding that it would \u201cmost definitely\u201d put U.S. troops at risk.
Graham offered an amendment to the bill to authorize the use of military force against Iranian-backed militias located in Iraq. It failed by a vote of 36 to 60.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said McCarthy should amend the bill to repeal the 2002 authorization for use of military force until President Biden\u2002or a future president certifies that Iran has stopped supporting terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria.
Without that change, Rubio warned that \u201cit will be perceived by the Iranians who are not experts on our system of government that this is Congress telling the president to get out of Iraq and Syria.\u201d
\u201cThey would view that as a green light to step up attacks against us,\u201d he said.
Rubio\u2019s amendment failed in a 32 to 63 vote.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the House should add language to the bill to give Biden clear authority to take military action against Iran\u2019s affiliates in Iraq.
\u201cHe should include my amendment,\u201d he said. \u201cThe problem is the Biden administration and President Biden in particular has been so weak in dealing with our enemies, and in particular in dealing with Iran.\u201d
He said Biden wants to enter into a new nuclear agreement with Iran and is \u201cwilling to subjugate every other foreign policy objective\u201d to that goal.
\u201cMy amendment simply repeats the Article II standard that the commander in chief has the legal authority to act to defend servicemen and women and to prevent an attack or imminent attack,\u201d he said.
Cruz\u2019s amendment failed by a vote of 41 to 55.
Paul, however, told The Hill that McCarthy should pass the repeal of military force authorization without changes.
\u201cIf we can\u2019t end a war that\u2019s been over \u2026 I don\u2019t know what we can do,\u201d he said. \u201cShow some resolve. A significant portion of his caucus is for it. I think it will pass with 60, 70 percent of the vote.\u201d
McCarthy told reporters last week that the bill will a have to \u201cgo through committee\u2019 but predicted it has \u201ca good chance\u201d of making it to the floor.
But Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.), who is standing in for McConnell while he recuperates from a concussion at home, said he doesn\u2019t know what McCarthy will do.
\u201cI don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to do over there. They could certainly improve it. Some of the amendments that got voted down over here, a number of them, would be good changes in terms of the policy,\u201d he said.
Thune told reporters Tuesday that attacks on U.S. military basses in Syria by suspected Iranian drones \u201cwere a reminder of the dangers that we face in the world, particularly in that region, from Iranian-backed militias and terrorists.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n