On war powers, Biden has pushed for both more congressional oversight and broad presidential authority

A Fix review of dozens of Biden speeches and public appearances over the past four decades reveals how Biden has long pushed for more congressional oversight of presidential war powers, even as he supported war authorizations that ultimately expanded the executive branch’s war-making authority. You can watch what Biden has said about war powers in the video above.

Biden campaigned against the Vietnam War during his first congressional campaign in 1972, and in 2002 he described the “sin of Vietnam” as a “failure of two presidents to level with the American people of what the cost would be, what the continued involvement would require and what was being asked of them.”

This framing resurfaced over his decades-long Senate tenure:

• In 1989, Biden criticized President George H.W. Bush’s military deployment to Panama and said Bush did not have the authority to remove Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega.
• In 1991, Biden voted against the Persian Gulf War AUMF, arguing that the conflict was not a “vital” U.S. interest.
• In 1994, Biden said President Bill Clinton did not have the authority to use force in Haiti without congressional approval.
• In 1999, Biden said Clinton needed congressional approval to send ground forces to Kosovo.
• In 2003, Biden called for more transparency from the administration of President George W. Bush following the invasion of Iraq for what he described as “a major commitment that’s going to take a long time” in a “much more complicated country than Afghanistan.”

At times, Biden has also taken a broad view of presidential authority.

In 1996, Biden told ABC News that the Khobar Towers bombing would constitute an “act of war” by Iran if it were involved and that the United States “could take whatever action it deems appropriate.” In July 2003, Biden defended his Iraq War vote in part, by saying that it strengthened Bush’s diplomatic hand. And in 2011, the Obama administration defended its military campaign in Libya by saying that the War Powers Resolution did not apply (Biden later said he opposed the Libya campaign).

Perhaps the best indication of Biden’s evolving view on presidential war powers and how he might wield them in office comes from two questionnaires he completed for journalist Charlie Savage during his presidential campaigns in 2007 and 2019.

Asked about the possibility of preemptively bombing Iran in 2007, Biden said, “The Constitution is clear: Except in response to an attack or the imminent threat of attack, only Congress may authorize war and the use of force.”

But 12 years later, Biden indicated support for broader presidential authority, as outlined in the 2011 Justice Department memo defending the Libyan military campaign that Biden had said he opposed during a 2016 interview.

“The Constitution vests Congress with the power to declare war and authorize the use of force,” Biden said in 2019. “As is well established and as the Department of Justice has articulated across several administrations, the Constitution vests the president … with the power to direct limited U.S. military operations abroad without prior congressional approval when those operations serve important U.S. interests and are of a limited nature, scope, and duration.”