What Is the War Powers Resolution?
The War Powers Resolution of 1973, otherwise known as the War Powers Act, is a federal law passed during the Vietnam War era to reinforce Congress’s constitutional authority over war-making. Rather than creating new powers, it affirms and strengthens the checks already granted to Congress under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which gives the legislative branch the sole authority to declare war. The War Powers Resolution has three main components:
- The President must get a declaration of war or specific authorization from Congress before sending troops overseas unless the United States or its armed forces are attacked
- If the President initiates hostilities, these can only last 60 days and must then be terminated unless Congress authorizes their continuation
- If there is no declaration of war or specific statutory authorization passed within 60 days, Congress can require the president to end U.S. participation in hostilities at any time
Any member of the House or Senate, regardless of committee assignment, can invoke section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution and get a full floor vote on whether to require the president to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities.
Under the procedural rules of the War Powers Act, these bills are granted expedited status—requiring a full floor vote in the House within 15 calendar days, and in the Senate within 10 calendar days of introduction. This provision is especially powerful because it allows members of Congress to force timely debates and votes on the president’s use of military force, reinforcing Congress’s constitutional authority over decisions of war and peace.
Read the full bill text here.
About Constitutional War Authority
Under Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war. This cornerstone of our nation’s founding document inspired James Madison to say, “In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive.”
The Founders felt that it was important to distinguish America from the British monarchy when it came to who could declare war. Wary of kings hastily engaging in war, often at the expense of their subjects, they entrusted Congress with this duty, ensuring the input of the American people in such a grave decision.
Under Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war.
As Madison noted, “The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly, with studied care, vested the question of war in the Legislature.”
While Congress has the power to declare war, according to Article II the President serves as the Commander in Chief, enabling him or her to conduct the wars once authorized by Congress. In addition, the President has a limited defensive power to use force to repel sudden attacks on the United States.
Before World War II, the executive and legislative branches, for the most part, acted in accordance with the constitutional division of war powers. The War of 1812, the Mexican American War, the Spanish American War, World War I, and World War II were all declared by Congress.
But after World War II, the executive branch began taking more liberties with the use of force. In 1950, President Truman went around Congress and invaded Korea, calling it a “police action” and setting a dangerous precedent for future administrations.
In 1963, President Kennedy sent military equipment and advisors to South Vietnam. In 1969 President Nixon began bombing Cambodia in secret and without informing the American people.
This case of executive overreach by Nixon in Cambodia angered so many in Congress that they wrote and passed into law the War Powers Act on November 7, 1973, with a two-thirds majority overriding Nixon’s veto.
What’s at Stake?
Even with the War Powers Act written into law, the president and Congress have been at odds in regards to the proper division of war powers post-1973. U.S. presidents have consistently said that the War Powers Act is an unconstitutional infringement on the executive branch’s powers.
President Reagan used the military without congressional authorization in Grenada. President George H.W. Bush did get authorization for the first Gulf War but asserted that he did not need permission from Congress to go to war.
The use of military force over the decades has cost Americans and humanity at large millions of lives and trillions of dollars.
Constitutional scholars have argued that Bush’s 1989 invasion of Panama did not comply with the requirements under the War Powers Act and was not authorized by Congress, in accordance with Article I of the Constitution. Similarly, in 1998 President Clinton sent troops to Kosovo to conduct an extensive air campaign without Congressional authorization.
One week after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress passed an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against the “nations, organizations, or persons” who planned, aided, or committed the attacks, as well as anyone who harbored those nations, organizations or persons.
This law paved the way for President George W. Bush and the three subsequent presidents to send U.S. forces not only to Afghanistan but also to Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and other nations as part of the War on Terror.
After more than two decades, the terror threats to the United States and its allies look very different from those at the time of the attacks on September 11. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the vast majority of attempted terrorist attacks since 2011 have emanated from domestic groups rather than foreign ones.
The 2001 AUMF has been used as grounds for the use of military force against groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Al Qaeda, and Al Shabaab, despite the fact that these groups were formed many years after the attacks on September 11. Many in Congress now support a sunset of the 2001 “War on Terror” AUMF and a repeal of the 2002 AUMF that authorized the war in Iraq. But while expressing the desire to repeal and replace these laws and end endless wars, the Biden administration has not articulated a coherent strategy that would actually do so.
The use of military force –both authorized and unauthorized – over the decades has cost Americans and humanity at large millions of lives and trillions of dollars. It has also contributed to the destabilization of multiple countries, an expanding refugee crisis, accelerating climate devastation, and the rise of new terror groups, all of which have made the United States and people around the globe less secure.
But Congress has the power to reassert its war authority and change this dynamic.
Find out more about the costs of war.
Historic Passage of a War Powers Resolution to End U.S. Involvement in the War in Yemen
In 2019, the U.S. Congress, led by Senators Bernie Sanders (VT), Mike Lee (UT), and Chris Murphy (CT), made history when it passed S.J.Res.7, a War Powers Resolution to end U.S. military involvement in the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen. It was the first War Powers Resolution to pass both chambers of Congress since the enactment of the War Powers Act in 1973.
This legislative effort built upon the Senate’s passage of S.J.Res.54, the first iteration of the Yemen War Powers Resolution, in December 2018. Senate approval of S.J.Res. 54, even though it was not enacted, produced tangible results in the lives of millions of Yemenis. The vote demonstrated to the U.S. administration and the Saudi-led coalition that the American people and their representatives wished to end U.S. involvement in the war.
In 2019, the U.S. Congress made history when it passed a War Powers Resolution to end U.S. military involvement in the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen.
This in turn increased U.S. leverage with Saudi Arabia and the Hadi government in Yemen to agree to a ceasefire. Shortly after the vote, former UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffith persuaded Hadi government officials and Houthi leaders to agree to a ceasefire in Hodeida Province, and to exchange 15,000 prisoners with the Saudi military.
Hodeida is one of the main ports of Yemen and is the supply line for aid to millions of Yemenis, who are suffering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The passage of this War Powers Resolution created leverage for peace talks, which resulted in an agreement that averted further deterioration and may have saved hundreds of thousands of Yemeni lives.
As a bipartisan coalition lobbied Congress to end U.S. complicity in the Saudi-led war and blockade, FCNL encountered many congressional offices that seemed unaware of the suffering of Yemenis. Some believed they had no power to stop the war in Yemen or U.S. complicity in it. Many of these congressional offices had never thought critically about U.S. military support for the Yemen war because they hadn’t been compelled to vote on it.
But each time Senators Sanders, Lee, and Murphy and Representatives Ro Khanna (CA-17), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Thomas Massie (KY-04), and Adam Smith (WA-09) used the War Powers Resolution to force votes on U.S. participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen in 2017, 2018, and 2019, they inched closer to winning a majority until the measure finally passed both chambers of Congress on April 4, 2019.
The passage of the War Powers Act of 1973 was a major bipartisan achievement of the peace movement during the Vietnam War, and the historic passage of S.J.Res.7 in 2019 was the culmination of decades of bipartisan organizing.
Watch Senator Menendez’s floor speech in support of the Yemen War Powers Resolution.
What’s Next?
The 2019 passage of the Yemen War Powers Resolution marked a turning point in congressional efforts to reassert war authority and end U.S. complicity in unauthorized conflicts. That historic victory—won through sustained grassroots advocacy and bipartisan majorities in both chambers—proved that Congress can and must reclaim its constitutional role in matters of war and peace.
Now, the Iran War Powers Resolution (S.J.Res.59 / H.Con.Res.38) is the next critical test.
After decades of executive overreach and mounting tensions in the Middle East, the U.S. faces a dangerous crossroads.
After decades of executive overreach and mounting tensions in the Middle East, the U.S. faces a dangerous crossroads. Israel’s unprovoked strikes on Iran in June have escalated regional conflict and increased the risk of U.S. entanglement in a catastrophic war. The stakes are too high for Congress to remain silent.
This resolution affirms that only Congress—not the president—has the power to decide when and if the U.S. goes to war with Iran. It is a vital opportunity to stop another endless war before it escalates further, to push back against unauthorized military action, and to show that the legislative branch will not be sidelined.
The Iran War Powers Resolution sends a clear signal: The American people want diplomacy, not war. We’ve been down this road before with Iraq and Afghanistan. We cannot allow another generation to pay the price of unchecked executive power and avoidable conflict.
Take Action
Urge your members of Congress to co-sponsor and vote in favor of the Iran War Powers Resolution (S.J.Res.59 / H.Con.Res.38) to block unauthorized strikes against Iran.
- Call your legislators and urge them to co-sponsor and vote in favor of the resolution.
- Thank your members if they’ve previously supported war powers legislation, such as the Yemen WPR or the Iran WPR.
- Request a meeting—virtual or in-person—with your representative and senators to discuss the urgent need to prevent an unauthorized war with Iran.