The airstrike that killed Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani and the subsequent tensions between the United States and Iran have sparked a new debate in Congress over the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, or AUMFs, against al Qaeda and Iraq. These nearly 20-year-old authorizations for war have been interpreted far too broadly by Republican and Democratic presidents alike. The AUMFs have been used as the justification for conducting military actions in several countries beyond what was originally intended, and it’s time for Congress to repeal them.

The debate over using the War Powers Resolution to limit President Trump’s ability to engage in hostilities in Iran is certainly needed. But as necessary as this debate is, it overlooks the deeper, recent pathology that has rendered moot Congress’s Article I responsibility for deciding the question of war or peace.