FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 10, 2020
 Contact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) condemned a provision in the U.S. House-passed 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that is aimed at preventing President Trump from withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and that could instead extend the war indefinitely. Dr. Paul specifically called out the hypocrisy of those who would at any other time argue for virtually unlimited presidential power to start a war without congressional authorization now seeking to prevent a president from ending one.
 
Currently, language in the 2021 NDAA would tie the president’s hands in red tape before troops could be withdrawn and the war ended. It would also cut off funding for those aims in the meantime.
 
“The hawks and the neocons somehow want you to believe, in contrast to all logic, that the President of the United States has the unitary power to go to war anytime he wants, anywhere, free from interference from Congress. That’s their stated position anytime war comes up. Yet, today, in the NDAA, they say they now want a president that cannot leave a war without their permission,” said Dr. Paul. 
 
“This Defense Authorization bill could more aptly be called, ‘A Bill to Prevent the President from Ending the Afghan War,'” he later observed.
 
You can watch Dr. Paul’s speech HERE.
 

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