The U.S. Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026 on Wednesday, sending the defense funding bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. The legislation includes a historic rollback of unilateral war authorities, marking the most significant reduction of presidential power to launch military action in at least 35 years.
The bill repeals the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs), which provided the legal basis for the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. While the 1991 authorization has been dormant for decades, the 2002 AUMF has continued to serve as a justification for U.S. military operations across the region, including airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as recently as 2020.
The authorization was also invoked for the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020, a move widely criticized for escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran without congressional approval. Critics argue that successive administrations have used such authorizations to involve the United States in “forever wars,” pointing to the broad language and lack of geographical limits governing their use.
Despite the repeal of the Iraq war authorizations, the 2001 AUMF remains in place. Passed in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the authorization grants presidents the power to use “all necessary and appropriate force” to prevent future terrorist attacks. The law has been used to justify U.S. military operations in at least 22 countries. A 2016 congressional report found the 2001 AUMF had been cited at least 37 times for airstrikes, raids, and deployments across multiple continents.
Pressure to further restrict presidential war-making authority intensified Wednesday when the House failed to pass a resolution affirming that Trump lacks constitutional authorization to attack Venezuela without congressional approval. With Trump recently designating the so-called Cartel of the Sons, which he alleges is headed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, analysts warn that the administration could cite the 2001 authorization to justify military action against Venezuela.