Biden Signals New Willingness to Amend Presidential War Powers

President Joe Biden (Wikimedia Commons).

In response to longstanding criticism about the broad ability of presidents to use military force abroad, President Joe Biden signaled his willingness to work with Congress to amend his war powers on March 5. The decision comes just days after Biden authorized his administration’s first airstrike and is a stark reversal of the Trump administration’s adamant opposition to any changes to presidential authorities.

The White House said that Biden will work to replace the current authorizations for military force with a “narrow and specific framework” that can end forever wars, even as it asserts in a letter to Congress that the strikes were based on sound domestic and international legal authorities.

Democrats and Republicans alike criticized the administration for not seeking congressional approval for carrying out airstrikes on February 25 against belligerent militias in Syria. The move comes as Congress is determined to reestablish its constitutional role in authorizing military force, a prerogative that it had largely abandoned during the decades-long Global War on Terror.

Days after the 9/11 terrorist attack, Congress passed the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which authorizes the president to “use all necessary and appropriate force” to prevent future acts of terrorism against the United States. This document, along with the 2002 Iraq War Resolution, became the legal basis for all twenty-first-century presidents to authorize airstrikes and other military actions without consulting Congress, thereby bypassing the Vietnam War-era War Powers resolution. The War Powers resolution forbade presidents from committing military force for more than sixty days without congressional approval.

Under the Trump administration, Congress passed several bipartisan bills that would have constrained the president’s ability to unilaterally use force. Former President Donald Trump vetoed them, claiming that it was a “dangerous attempt to weaken [his] constitutional authorities.” Despite having insufficient votes to override the veto, the resolutions demonstrated a Congress increasingly eager to reclaim its role in the use of military force. 

Biden’s overture comes just days after Senators Tim Kaine (D-V.A.) and Todd Young (R-I.N.) introduced a bill that would repeal the 2002 AUMF and strip the president’s ability to unilaterally use force in Iraq. In a statement, Kaine asserted that “a bipartisan majority in both the Senate and House has made clear that we shouldn’t be engaged in hostilities with Iran without a vote of Congress,” while noting that the bill would not prevent defensive actions. 

The White House’s move is significant because it marks the first time Biden as president has endorsed repealing the decades-old AUMFs. As a candidate, he vowed to “work closely with Congress on decisions to use force, not dismiss congressional legislation.” Notably, the White House statement did not endorse any particular approach to replace the AUMFs, reflecting the longstanding disagreement between policymakers on how best to overhaul authorizations that have been extended well beyond its original intent.