As Wars Wind Down, Congress Revisits Presidential Powers

The House is expected to repeal the 2002 authorization for the invasion of Iraq, and the Senate will consider doing so as well in a rare debate over war powers.

WASHINGTON — As two decades of wars move toward a turbulent close, Congress is poised to place its first significant check in a generation on a president’s war-making powers. The House is expected to vote on Thursday to repeal an authorization it gave President George W. Bush in 2002 to invade Iraq. That authorization was repeatedly applied well beyond its original intent, including in a campaign much later against the Islamic State in Iraq and for the killing of the Iranian general Qassim Suleimani last year. Most Democrats in the House have signaled that they will join a handful of Republicans in approving the legislation.