PODCAST:
April 24, 2026 ~ Congressman Tom Barrett discusses his legislation to reassert Congress’s war power authority. Chris Renwick and Lloyd Jackson cover the impact of endless wars and future service members.
WASHINGTON D.C. ~ U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett (MI-7) is seeking to restore war powers to Congress through a package of bills he introduced this week.
The four-bill package introduced by the Republican veteran includes an order that would make any authorization of military force sunset or expire five years after it began, unless Congress approves that it may continue, along with a constitutional amendment proposal to do the same. Another bill would authorize the House to fast-track an end to any unauthorized use of military force, similar to a power the Senate already has.
“Just in the window of time of the 20-year-long war on terror, 30,000 died by suicide, 7,000 died on the battlefield,” Barrett told WJR. “We can’t pretend that these things are working in the way that they are supposed to, and that’s really what motivated me to work on this, even, honestly, before what’s happening in Iran right now. This was a motivation of mine going back many months to the beginning of my term, and how to pull us together and work on ways that we could sort of reform the way that our military operations work.”
His bill proposals come during a U.S.-Israeli-led war against Iran that has lasted almost two months, killing thousands of people across the Middle East. A recent poll from Marquette Law School found that 68% of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Iran War.
