In a bipartisan effort to return basic war powers to Congress, the Senate voted on Wednesday to repeal the resolution that authorized the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The 2002 measure and the 1991 authorization that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War were repealed by a vote of 66-30, following years of advocacy by Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, the Associated Press reported.

The move to repeal the authorization came after the false claim by President George W. Bush’s administration that Saddam Hussein was amassing weapons of mass destruction, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 5,000 U.S. troops.

While the repeal is not expected to impact current military deployments, lawmakers on both sides are increasingly seeking to regain congressional powers that have been ceded to the White House for U.S. military strikes and deployments.

Additionally, some lawmakers who voted for the Iraq War two decades ago now admit that it was a mistake, as reported by the AP.

Written by staff