Senate to vote on Rand Paul’s war proposal

The Senate will weigh in on Sen. Rand Paul’s push to sunset two war authorizations, a vote that follows the Kentucky Republican’s threat to grind an annual defense bill to a standstill. 

Senators will hold a vote on Paul’s amendment to sunset the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) on Wednesday. 

Paul wants to attach a six-month sunset of the two war bills to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The 2001 AUMF passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, while the 2002 AUMF authorized the Iraq War.

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The move comes after Paul said on Monday that he would slow-walk the Senate’s consideration of the NDAA — an annual bill that normally passes with large, bipartisan margins — and block any other of the hundreds of amendments from getting votes.  

Paul’s amendment is unlikely to get added to the Senate’s defense bill.  

Senators on both sides of the aisle have been pushing for years for Congress to hold a vote on if they should sunset the 2001 or 2002 war authorizations, or pass a new AUMF to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

But deep policy and political divisions have repeatedly stymied congressional efforts. 

However, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), one of the Senate’s most vocal proponents of a new war authorization, said on Tuesday that he would support Paul’s push. 

“I am supporting Senator Paul’s amendment. I think it is way past time—way past time—for Congress to take this up and for everybody to be on the record. I think our allies need to know whether Congress supports the American military missions currently under way,” Kaine said.

A spokesman for Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said she would also vote in favor of Paul’s proposal. And Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) announced on the Senate floor that he would support it.