Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the author of the amendment, threatened to hold up passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets forth the Pentagon’s budget, unless the Senate voted on repealing the 2001 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force (AUMF) for the wars against al Qaeda, the so-called Islamic State and the Taliban. He argued Wednesday that the current war authorizations are outdated and that Congress needed to “grab power back” from the executive branch, which he said has been using the war authorizations for “unauthorized, unconstitutional and undeclared war.”

Paul had threatened to essentially slow down the legislative process for passing the fiscal 2018 NDAA unless there was a floor debate on the war authorizations. “I’m confident that an overwhelming bipartisan majority of my colleagues would agree to approve the use of military force against the vicious, brutal enemy we face in ISIS and associated forces.”

McCain also argued that repealing the 2001 and 2002 war authorizations without simultaneously passing a new one “would be premature, would be irresponsible and it would threaten U.S. national security.”

The AUMF, or Authorization for Use of Military Force, was first used in 2001 by President George W. Bush when the U.S. deployed forces to Afghanistan.
The United States Senate blocks an amendment to the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act that would have repealed the war authorizations for the use of force in Iraq and Afghanistan.