Syria War Powers Resolution

Floor Speech

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Ms. SPANBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today as a Member of Congress who has proudly worked to fight and defeat terrorism as a CIA officer. I worked with my colleagues to protect the lives of the American people, our servicemembers, and our interests around the world.

I fully agree that we need to revisit our Authorizations for Use of Military Force. I have worked with Members of Congress, including the esteemed gentleman from Florida (Mr. Gaetz), to raise this issue. I am proud to see that we are actually seeing progress toward the repeal of the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs. That is encouraging.

However, that does not mean that we should abandon ongoing operations that keep the United States safe that are authorized under the 2001 AUMF. Should we discuss it? Should we debate it? Should we look toward reforming it? Perhaps. Should we order the men and women in uniform to come home over the next few months? Absolutely not.

We should not encourage a resurgence of ISIS. We should not abandon our work with the Kurdish fighters on the front lines. We should understand the implications for the long-term stability of the Middle East and the actions we take here today.

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Ms. SPANBERGER. Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I oppose the resolution to withdraw quickly from Syria, and I look forward to earnest, bipartisan, forward-looking conversations about how we can reassert our constitutional role and protect our ongoing work to defeat terrorism and keep the homeland safe.

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