Barbara Lee’s Long Quest to Curb Presidential War Powers Faces a New Test

WASHINGTON — Just days aft the Sept. 11 attacks, Representative Barbara Lee took a lonely basal arsenic the sole lawmaker successful Congress to ballot against invading Afghanistan, informing that granting the president specified wide powers would plunge the federation into perpetual war.

For years aft that vote, Ms. Lee, a California Democrat, remained a solitary fig connected a seemingly quixotic quest, pushing tirelessly — and often fruitlessly — to rein successful the expansive war-making authorities that her colleagues had unanimously granted the president.

Twenty years later, Ms. Lee is nary longer connected her own.

Weary of continued conflicts abroad, lawmakers and voters successful some parties person travel astir to Ms. Lee’s presumption that specified authorizations person been abused by presidents successful some parties to wage warfare acold beyond the scope Congress ever intended.

Key legislature committees person voted on bipartisan lines for the past 2 years to repeal the 2001 law. And for the archetypal time, a existent pathway exists to repeal the 2002 authorization for the penetration of Iraq. Forty-nine House Republicans joined astir each Democrat to approve that repeal successful June, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the legislation past month.

Now, conscionable arsenic legislative momentum appeared to beryllium astatine Ms. Lee’s back, her ngo is facing a caller test: whether the legislature appetite for revisiting the decades-old authorizations tin clasp adjacent arsenic lawmakers balk astatine the consequences of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. The chaotic departure has raised new fears astir a resurgence of violent groups including Al Qaeda and ISIS-K.

“I’m hoping members of Congress recognize they can’t beryllium missing successful enactment and passing the subordinate to the president,” Ms. Lee said successful an interview.

But arsenic Ms. Lee knows each excessively well, it is simply a posture her colleagues person been comfy taking for astir 2 decades. Congress has not voted connected a caller authorization of subject unit — oregon to curtail existing ones — since 2002, erstwhile lawmakers gave President George W. Bush the powerfulness to invade Iraq.

Since then, presidents of some parties person invoked the 2002 and 2001 warfare authorities to warrant subject unit successful galore different places, stretching the laws to warrant open-ended warfare astir the globe.

That was the script Ms. Lee had feared erstwhile she voted against the 60-word solution successful 2001, 3 days aft she and her colleagues evacuated the Capitol connected Sept. 11.

That time connected the House floor, successful speeches alternately lofty and furious, Republicans and Democrats spoke with 1 defiant voice, vowing to destruct the terrorists who planned the attacks and to unify successful enactment of Mr. Bush. A Republican congressman predicted the instrumentality would walk unanimously, and said the show of unity would springiness him large comfort.

Then Ms. Lee roseate to speak.

“However hard this ballot whitethorn be, immoderate of america indispensable impulse the usage of restraint,” she said. “Our state is successful a authorities of mourning. Some of america indispensable say, fto america measurement backmost for a moment. Let america conscionable intermission for a infinitesimal and deliberation done the implications of our actions contiguous truthful that this does not spiral retired of control.”

In the end, 518 members of Congress, including senators, voted successful favour of the resolution. Only Ms. Lee dissented.

The girl of a retired lieutenant colonel who fought successful World War II and Korea, Ms. Lee, 75, has agelong insisted that she is not a pacifist. As she mulled her vote, she said, it was her inheritance successful psychiatric societal enactment — wherever she learned the value of ne'er making a determination successful the vigor of emotion — that helped marque up her mind.

Her stance was rapidly met with a fierce backlash. Some of Ms. Lee’s closest colleagues successful Congress, she recalled, initially thought she had voted successful error. When they learned she had purposefully opposed the resolution, they urged her to alteration her position, informing her that she would beryllium voted retired of bureau unless she did.

Outside Washington, voters furious with her basal deluged Ms. Lee with hatred message and decease threats, to the constituent that she required a information detail, aides recalled.

So Ms. Lee recovered different openings to property the issue, introducing the aforesaid amendments to repeal the Sept. 11-era authorizations of unit twelvemonth aft twelvemonth and forcing her colleagues to spell connected the record. Behind the scenes, she buttonholed lawmakers successful some parties, picking up votes arsenic she made her case.

“Every measurement of the way, there’d beryllium possibly 2 oregon 3 much members that I would beryllium down and speech with,” Ms. Lee said. “We’ve conscionable been chipping distant astatine it. This is simply a marathon.”

A breakthrough came successful 2017, erstwhile the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted to repeal the 2001 authorization.

“You’re making converts each implicit the place, Ms. Lee,” Rodney Frelinghuysen, Republican of New Jersey and past the president of the panel, said astatine the time. “Indeed, you person been incredibly persistent and perseverant connected this contented for a fig of years. I deliberation we admit you, and evidently you person allies successful the room. We stock your concern.”

Paul D. Ryan, past the speaker, unilaterally stripped it from a larger spending bill, fundamentally sidesplitting the repeal. But the effort revealed a swell of enactment among conservatives for ending subject conflicts abroad, mirroring a cardinal pledge made by President Donald J. Trump.

Indeed, immoderate of Ms. Lee’s astir ardent supporters successful her crusade person been improbable allies, including archconservatives successful the House Freedom Caucus — immoderate of whom were vocal successful supporting the Stop the Steal question that fueled the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.

“It’s overmuch much hard now,” she said. “It’s a precise hard infinitesimal to speech with and effort to enactment with those who don’t judge that” the predetermination was legitimate.

Ms. Lee, who present leads the House Appropriations sheet that oversees overseas affairs, said she was appalled to spot immoderate Republicans with whom she had worked connected the repeal effort crook connected President Biden aft helium withdrew American troops from Afghanistan.

“Either they were soundless connected the withdrawal oregon precise very captious — adjacent those Republicans who supported it erstwhile Trump issued the day for withdrawal,” she said. “So to spot them present effort to recreate past is precise shocking.”

That whiplash — combined with vocal disapproval from longtime hawks successful some parties — could imperil efforts present underway successful the Senate to repeal the 2002 authorization, which proponents presumption arsenic the steppingstone to doing distant with the much expansive 2001 law.

At a proceeding connected Capitol Hill connected Tuesday, Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, suggested to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken that the Biden medication “revisit” its erstwhile proposal that Congress enactment with the president to repeal the authorizations.

“We request to look to marque definite we person each the authorities that we would request for immoderate imaginable contingency, including the re-emergence arsenic a threat” of Al Qaeda oregon ISIS-K, Mr. Blinken replied. “If we don’t person those authorities, we should get them, whether it means re-looking astatine those authorizations oregon penning caller ones, which I deliberation would beryllium the astir due happening to bash if necessary.”

For now, polling shows that ending the nation’s subject conflicts overseas remains mostly fashionable with voters. And activists successful favour of the repeal who person been doing their ain whip counts connected Capitol Hill accidental that they person seen small grounds to suggest that their efforts could beryllium crushed.

“We’re not uncovering that that is stopping radical from wanting to say: ‘Well, hold a minute. Should the U.S. truly beryllium progressive successful each these wars?’” said Jim Cason, the subordinate wide caput for strategical advocacy astatine the Friends Committee connected National Legislation.

“Maybe that was a lonely ballot 20 years ago,” helium added, “but looking today, tin we truly reason that these 20 years of warfare person gotten the United States what it had hoped to achieve?”