(Washington – June 25, 2025) – Veterans for Common Sense – a nonpartisan nonprofit organization focused on U.S. foreign and military policy founded in 2002 by U.S. war veterans who honorably served our nation – has again called for Congressional efforts to repeal and replace the War Powers Resolution with stronger measures and efforts to repeal the legacy Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) cited by successive Presidents as legal authority for acts of war.
A letter from Veterans for Common Sense sent to leadership of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives read as follows:
June 24, 2025
Dear Senator Grassley, Senator Schumer, Speaker Johnson, and Leader Jeffries,
Veterans for Common Sense – a nonpartisan nonprofit organization focused on U.S. foreign and military policy founded in 2002 by U.S. war veterans who honorably served our nation – supports Congressional efforts to repeal and replace the War Powers Resolution with stronger measures and efforts to repeal the legacy Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) cited by successive Presidents as legal authority for acts of war.
Despite constitutional and statutory limits, the Executive Branch’s unilateral acts of war on June 21 resulted in retaliatory attacks and the increased the risk of an all-out regional war.
In 1776, Founding Father Thomas Paine authored the pro-U.S. independence “Common Sense” pamphlet from which Veterans for Common Sense derived our name. Paine also wrote, “War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end.” U.S. military history over the last century has borne that out.
The costs of foreign wars are most heavily borne by veterans, their survivors and loved ones, and a nation saddled with trillions of dollars of existing debt.
In a March 10, 2003 letter signed by one thousand U.S. war veterans, Veterans for Common Sense wrote to President George W. Bush with concerns about an invasion of Iraq: “…intelligence agencies have consistently noted both the absence of an imminent threat from Iraq and reliable evidence of cooperation between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Again, we question whether this is the right time and the right war… Instead of a desert war to liberate Kuwait, combat would likely involve protracted siege warfare, chaotic street-to-street fighting in Baghdad, and Iraqi civil conflict.” Our warnings proved to be prophetic.
Since the invasion of Iraq, we remain advocates for U.S. war veterans. Taxpayers face an estimated cost of $1,000,000 per deployed U.S. service member, including for a lifetime of healthcare and restorative benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
We strongly urge Congress to conduct immediate hearings and recorded roll call votes to restore its constitutional sole power to declare war. It is a grave, solemn responsibility to consider the many risks and costs of war which, as our Founders recognized, “no human wisdom can calculate the end.”
Sincerely,
Veterans for Common Sense
The June 24, 2025 letter also included a Veterans for Common Sense Fact Sheet — Zombie AUMFs: Legacy War Authorizations Linger.
