A senior Republican on the House Rules Committee said Monday that Speaker Paul Ryan personally asked him to block legislation that would have repealed the U.S. war authorization for the wars in Iraq, Syria Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said he consented to that request and replaced anti-war Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee’s amendment, which was added this month to the Defense Department spending bill, with another provision that requires the Trump administration to instead submit a report on the existing 9/11-era Authorization for the Use of Military Force.
The move angered Lee and Democrats who believed a AUMF vote was finally within reach after years of dead-end debate.
Cole said Ryan believed Lee’s repeal amendment was out of place in the spending bill and should be handled by the Foreign Affairs Committee, and that President Trump should be able to give input before Congress pulls the authorization, which has also been used by the past two administrations as legal justification for war against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
“I was approached by the Speaker. He said, look, jurisdictionally this can’t happen and he made another point which I agree with, which is the administration ought to participate in this exercise,” he said during a Rules Committee meeting Monday night. “They out to have an opportunity to put in a report to tell us what their justification is.”
Lee’s amendment would have repealed the AUMF and given Congress eight months to pass an updated replacement. It was passed last month as part of the 2018 defense authorization by a voice vote in the House Appropriations Committee with the support of some Republicans.
Cole’s new language, which is also included in the House-passed annual defense authorization bill, orders the Trump administration to submit a report within 30 days of the appropriations bill being passed that lays out justifications, strategic objectives and costs of current wars, according to Cole.
Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, the Rules Committee chairman, insisted that Republicans remain committed to debating a new AUMF.
“We are not going to defer but rather directly move at this issue,” Sessions said. “We’re not going to say if we do or don’t do something we’re going to defund something in some period of time. We’re going to take the issue head on.”
The Rules Committee has wide latitude to change language in bills before they reach the House floor, but Democrat members still protested during the hearing Monday to set the defense appropriations bill for a floor vote.
“This is just deeply frustrating and there is no excuse for it,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., a member of the committee.
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said she still believed removing the amendment was improper after it passed committee in a bipartisan vote.
“Waiting for this AUMF is very similar to waiting for Godot, it never happens,” Slaughter said.
