WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, supported an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Wednesday that would, in six months, repeal the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) authorizing war against the perpetrators of the September 11th attacks and the war in Iraq. Murphy argued that Congress must reclaim its war-making authority and debate a new authorization for the wars we are currently. The amendment, which was authored by U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), received bipartisan support from 36 senators. Click here to view video of Murphy’s remarks. 

“Let me stipulate that this is an extraordinary amendment to sunset an authorization of military force that currently provides the legal authorization for our continuing military efforts to take out al Qaeda as they try to plan attacks against the United States and our allies,” said Murphy. “But it is time for extraordinary measures because we have simply not done our constitutional duty in declaring and authorizing war.

Murphy continued, “If I thought that we were going to do this without the sunsetting of the existing AUMFs, then I wouldn't support this extraordinary measure. But I’ve been here long enough to know that it's far too easy and convenient for this Congress to allow for an executive – whether it be a Republican or Democratic executive – to define the parameters of war and to name new enemies. I am going to support Senator Paul's amendment. I am then going to vigorously work with my colleagues to try to craft an authorization that gets the job done.” 

Murphy also called on his Senate colleagues to consider amendments – such as the amendment he introduced with U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) – that will strengthen our Buy American laws and ensure that federal taxpayer dollars are being used to benefit American workers and businesses, not foreign companies.

Full text of Murphy’s remarks are below:

Thank you, Mr. President.

First, let me lend my support to efforts to bring amendments before the floor later today or later this week with respect to strengthening our nation's Buy America laws. This has been a cause I’ve been working on for almost my entire career in the United States Congress, and it's about time we start making sure that when we're spending billions of dollars for the United States military, that we prioritize American companies so that we don't allow for those dollars to flow overseas when we have companies in Connecticut, North Carolina, and Illinois who can do the work. So this is important and I hope that we take some votes on these measures that I think will draw bipartisan support either this week or next.

I do rise, though, to lend my voice as well to the amendment being offered by Senator Paul. Let me stipulate that this is an extraordinary amendment to sunset an authorization of military force that currently provides the legal authorization for our continuing military efforts to take out al Qaeda as they try to plan attacks against the United States and our allies.

But it is time for extraordinary measures because we have simply not done our constitutional duty in declaring and authorizing war. I would argue, as many of my colleagues do, that no matter how necessary it is for the United States to take the fight to ISIS as we have in Iraq and Syria and other places around the world, that is not currently authorized by the United States Congress. And it is a fairly extraordinary leap of statutory interpretation to think that an authorization to attack al Qaeda – the perpetrators of the attacks on 9/11 – allows you then to conduct a global war with almost no limits against this new enemy.

And so to me, if we don't reauthorize military action against ISIS, perhaps against other foes that we confront, then I'm not sure that Congress will ever again authorize war. Why? It's a lot harder to authorize military action today than it was a century ago or 50 years ago. We aren't marching conventional armies across a field against one another. We aren't signing neat peace treaties that provide a clear end to hostilities. The enemy is shadowy and diffuse and perpetual. And victory now is harder to define than ever before.

So it is very easy for the United States Congress to just step back and say that authorizing military force is too hard, it's too difficult – and so we outsource it to the executive branch to decide who we fight, where we fight, and when we fight and how we fight. That's not what the founding fathers imagined. And in fact, there's good reason to vest in the Congress the sole authority to declare war.

If I thought that we were going to do this without the sunsetting of the existing AUMFs, then I wouldn't support this extraordinary measure. But I’ve been here long enough to know that it's far too easy and convenient for this Congress to allow for an executive – whether it be a Republican or Democratic executive – to define the parameters of war and to name new enemies that have not been before this body for debate. 

And so I think it's time for us to sunset these authorizations. And I do think that we will be able, with that pressure, to be able to come up with a new authorization that gives our military and our executive what the fight against groups like ISIS while protecting the interests of our constituents – who, frankly, by and large, no matter what state you are from, do not want the President of the United States, this or any other, to have an unchecked ability to bring the fight to anyone anywhere around the globe. 

And I will just tell you, take a look at the way the president has suggested that he was authorized to take action against the Assad regime as evidence of how unending the current interpretation can be. The justification for that action was because it was next to action being taken against ISIS, which was authorized because ISIS has some familial relationship to al Qaeda. That is three or four steps removed from any debate that this body has ever had. That is not what the founding fathers intended.

I am going to support Senator Paul's amendment. I am then going to vigorously work with my colleagues to try to craft an authorization that gets the job done. It is about time.

I yield the floor.

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