VIRGINIA BEACH — The “Gator Bees” of Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 have embodied the motto of Navy Seabees for nearly 80 years, building and fighting as called upon. But come March 31, the Virginia Beach-based battalion will be deactivated.

Sailors from Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 honored the unit during a decommissioning ceremony Thursday at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek’s Chapel.

Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 was one of two unique battalions in the country. It played a major role in maritime prepositioning force operations throughout every conflict in which the U.S. has been engaged since World War II — providing support for ship-to-shore connections and installing numerous military camps.

“All good things come to an end. ACB 2 has accomplishment its mission in its current construct,” said Rear Adm. Dean Vanderley, commander of Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command and Chief of Civil Engineers.

The Navy decided in July to deactivate the battalion after the elevated causeway system — a modular pier stretching up to 3,000 feet to provide logistic support to Marine Corps and Joint Expeditionary Forces — was removed from the command’s Table of Allowance.

“Therefore, the decision by the Navy to disestablish ACB2 makes sense fiscally as by its closure the Navy loses no unique mission capabilities and sustains a minimal operational impact,” said Lt. Cmdr. Paul Newell, spokesperson for Expeditionary Strike Group 2.

The origins of Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 — formerly known as the 105th Naval Construction Battalion — trace to July 14, 1943, when it was commissioned at Camp Peary in Williamsburg.

Acting as a ship-to-shore link during World War II, Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 established pontoon causeways, barge-mounted cranes and pontoon ferries necessary for amphibious forces to quickly off-load the large quantities of troops and cargo on foreign shores.

The battalion has distinguished itself in myriad operations since World War II, including the 1958 crisis in Lebanon, the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon from August 1982 to February 1984, the October 1983 rescue of American citizens in Grenada, Operation Sharp Edge in Liberia in 1991, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1992, Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti in 1994, disaster recovery efforts for TWA Flight 800 and Egypt Air Flight 990 and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Retired Capt. David Stewart was one of nine former commanding officers in attendance. He and his wife traveled from Stafford to bid farewell. Stewart was assigned the battalion in the 1980s as a junior officer before he returned to lead it in 1999.

Being part of the battalion’s history and its operations, Stewart said, was “an unbelievable, unique opportunity.”

“In the mid-80s, at the time, the battalion’s focus was supporting amphibious operations in the Mediterranean. It was about always being prepared to send teams across the pond,” Stewart said.

As commanding officer from 1999-2001, the immediate mission was very different. Stewart led the battalion when Egypt Air Flight 990 crashed off the coast of New Jersey. His “Gator Bees” were tasked with salvage operations, using tugs to recover the wreckage.

Typically, seabees provide a wide range of construction in support of operating forces, including roads, bridges, bunkers, airfields and logistics bases, and offer responsive support disaster recovery operations. The amphibious seabees are different in that they can be deployed on ships.

“But the world is changing,” Stewart said. “We now project power differently. We now establish our presence differently.”

The battalion was made up of roughly 200 active duty sailors, 650 reservists, and 30 support contractors. But in recent years, active duty sailors assigned to the unit were whittled by two-thirds to about 130.

“This change did not reduce our operational or maintenance requirements. In true Seabee fashion, the command continued to excel. We have continued to success because of the Seabee ‘can do’ spirit and our ability to adapt,” said Capt. Atim D. Senthill, commanding officer of Amphibious Construction Battalion 2.

Since the order to decommission was handed down, the crew has worked to close up shop, with most of the equipment moved to its sister battalion — Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 in San Diego.

This month’s decommissioning marks the third time in its history the battalion has been laid to rest. But it has a history of being recalled in times of need.

“While I am saddened ACB 2 will no longer be on the Navy’s active roster, I know that if this command is ever needed in the future, we will certainly answer the call,” Senthill said.

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

Legislation re-introduced Wednesday by Sen. Tim Kaine works to encourage military retention and force readiness by boosting the hiring of military spouses on the homefront.

Kaine’s Military Spouse Hiring Act would expand the existing Work Opportunity Tax Credit program to include active duty military spouses. The current program gives employers a one-time federal tax credit of up $2,400 for hiring an individual from one of 10 targeted groups who consistently face barriers to employment.

“This is a readiness issue that deals directly with retention,” Kaine said Wednesday during a Zoom conference.

Frequent moves often stall military spouses’ upward career progression and force them to find new jobs. And knowing an individual is a military spouse who is likely to relocate, Kaine said, can sway an employer from hiring them.

According to a 2021 survey by Blue Star Families, military spouses face unemployment rates four times the national average. The survey found military spouse employment is the top issue impacting active duty families, and the top contributor to financial stress among military families.

“You recruit the soldier, sailor, marine, or airman or woman in, but you retain the family … If you have real barriers for spouses, you are going to see people exiting when we usually want to retain them,” Kaine said.

The same bill was introduced in 2022, but failed to pass. Kaine said he believes this year will be different.

“I have very strong bipartisan partners on this in the Senate and also a bill in the House that is led by Don Beyer, so I think we have got a real good chance of getting this done this year,” Kaine said.

As of Wednesday, the bill was cosponsored by 20 senators, including Virginia’s Mark Warner. Beyer, also a Virginia Democrat, introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

If enacted, active duty military spouses would bring the qualifying targeted groups to 11. Among those who qualify are veterans receiving assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, ex-felons hired within a year of release from prison, individuals who have been unemployed for a minimum of 27 weeks, and Social Security Act Title IV-A recipients.

The legislation is supported by more than two dozen military adjacent organizations, including Blue Star Families, the National Military Spouse Network and the National Military Family Association.

“The military spouse unemployment rate has remained too high for too long. When military spouses can’t find work, it’s a problem for their family’s financial stability and wellbeing,” said Besa Pinchotti, executive director of the National Military Family Association.

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland man convicted of fatally shooting the mother of a U.S. Naval Academy football player with a stray bullet was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Capital Gazette reports that Angelo Harrod’s life sentence was the maximum punishment sought in the case.

In December, a jury convicted Harrod, 31, of Annapolis, of charges including first-degree murder in the June 2021 shooting death of Michelle Cummings, the mother of Navy football player Trey Cummings.

Cummings, 57, of Houston, came to Annapolis with her husband to celebrate their son’s Naval Academy induction. Cummings and her husband were sitting on the patio of a nearby hotel when she was shot by the stray bullet.

Prosecutors said Harrod killed Cummings when he and a second, unnamed man fired at an occupied SUV. Authorities believe two people in the parked car appeared to be the intended victims.

During Harrod’s trial, neither prosecutors nor police named the second man linked to the shooting.

Defense attorney Howard Cardin said Harrod did not fire the bullet that killed Cummings.

“I wouldn’t shoot at anybody I didn’t know,” Harrod said at his sentencing hearing.

Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Pamela Alban said she has “no doubt” that Harrod was responsible for the 2021 attack.

“You don’t care about the rules,” Alban told him.

Before the sentencing, the judge dismissed a defense request for a new trial.

A string of tobacco shops, car dealerships and a Virginia Beach bar accused of “unscrupulous business practices” have been off limits to military members for years, cut off from serving around 5% of Hampton Roads’ population.

The Armed Forces “off-limits list” dates back more than 30 years, with businesses shuffling on and off the radar of the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board every three months. With Hampton Roads being home to 18 Department of Defense installations and approximately 85,000 active duty service members, landing a spot on the list can put a business’ future in jeopardy. And getting off the list is no easy feat.

Of 11 establishments service members are prohibited from, eight have maintained a place on the list for more than nine years, despite having been permanently closed, while others changed their names or moved locations.

Manuel Thomas, coordinator for the board’s Norfolk-based region, said the goal of the off-limits list is to protect military members from illegal and unethical business practices. While Navy Region Mid-Atlantic is the sponsoring commander for the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board, the list applies to members of the Air and Space Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard.

Service members can become targets for unethical consumer practices because they have guaranteed income and the Uniform Code of Military Justice requires them to pay their bills on time, said Thomas, who oversees the complaint process for service members, due process against accused businesses and the actions of the local arm of the joint service board.

The local board is made up of members from each military branch, with community members and law enforcement agencies acting as advisers. Together, they monitor businesses within 75 miles of Norfolk, extending from southeastern Virginia to northeastern North Carolina.

Typically, complaints about businesses are submitted through the board’s website. The complaint then goes to the legal assistance command, where a judge advocate general attorney will try to resolve the issue for the sailor. If the attorneys are unsuccessful at resolving the issue, they will compile a list of the complaints. If there is more than one complaint, the issue is referred to the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board.

The board, Thomas said, vets the businesses — making sure they are licensed properly — and checks its archives to see if there is a history of complaints. A business with multiple complaints about its consumer practices will often receive a warning letter informing the owner of the potential to be placed off limits if the behavior continues.

“For example, if there is a contract that is unfair to the sailor and (the business) doesn’t void the contract, the board can in fact place the business off limits,” Thomas said.

Thomas described this as a process, with “a lot of back and forth” as the board, military attorneys and the business works to resolve the issue. He estimated that 95% of the businesses cooperate.

The most recent update came Feb. 14.

But a business can be placed on the list immediately if the Armed Forces board concludes the consumer practices are especially egregious. Such a decision was made in 2018 about a bar in Virginia Beach.

“We had a female sailor raped in the bathroom. The bar owner refused to allow Virginia Beach police to look at the camera at the establishment … Right away we put (that business) off limits to protect our sailors,” Thomas said.

While the bar closed in 2019, it remains on the Armed Forces blacklist until the Armed Forces board and Naval Criminal Investigative Services determine the business will not reopen under a different name or at another location.

“We are cautious about if the business changes their name or moves to a different location. If they do that, under Department of Defense instruction, we can automatically leave them on the list. … So all the old names are on there because sailors are familiar with it,” Thomas said.

The list, Thomas said, also can help service members who might not realize they have been victimized. A now-closed Norfolk auto dealership, for example, was placed on the off-limits list in July 2014 after more than 80 service members issued complaints.

“We did not realize the magnitude (of the issue) because the business stayed under the radar for a long time. … A lot of times junior sailors will complain, but they are not aware of the mechanisms that exist to help them out,” Thomas said.

According to Thomas, the list is not a suggestion for service members, but rather an order. If caught conducting business with or entering the premises of the listed establishments, service members risk facing disciplinary action.

Businesses are invited to discuss the complaints with the board, and if they ultimately are deemed off limits, the business owner can appeal the decision.

“Our intention is not to shut a business down. It is to make sure they comply with what is right — not doing unethical or illegal business practices,” said Beth Baker, spokesperson for Navy Region Mid-Atlantic.

Carafello’s Auto Sales is currently going through the appeal process after the dealership rejoined the list last week. The business is accused of targeting junior sailors outside the Navy Exchange, offering them money to refer other junior sailors to the dealership. The practice, known as “bird-dogging,” or using someone outside the business to help with a sale, is illegal according to Virginia law.

The board said Carafello’s has been “taking advantage of (junior sailors’) limited financial understanding or ability to walk away from a negotiation” by selling vehicles to sailors without a driver’s license. It is not illegal to sell a vehicle to someone without a driver’s license.

Ryan Carafello, owner of the dealership, told The Virginian-Pilot on Friday that his business has been “crippled” by the board’s decision to hastily blacklist it. The dealership caters to service members, who represent 98% of Carafello’s customers.

According to Carafello, the board detailed just five complaints about his business dating back to April 2019 — complaints he was unaware of until Carafello’s Auto Sales was printed in black and white at the bottom of Rear Adm. Christopher Gray’s order.

Carafello will go before the board March 8 to dispute the allegations. This is a process Carafello has been through once before, following similar allegations in 2015 that were resolved after he demonstrated the dealership was in compliance with Virginia motor vehicle dealer laws and regulations.

“We look forward to starting a constructive dialogue that will allow the Navy to understand our position and that we genuinely look out for sailors,“ said Carafello in an emailed statement.

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

On Feb. 5, after President Joe Biden ordered a Chinese balloon that had violated American airspace to be shot down, a Navy photographer took several extraordinary photographs of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 as it collected some of the debris off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

In one of the images, which has been widely reproduced since, three sailors wrestle what looks like an enormous garbage bag entangled with broken scaffolding into a small boat while a half-dozen of their colleagues stare watchfully into space; in another, the humans are relegated to the edges and the focus is on the balloon itself, an ominous, if waterlogged, mass of wrinkled white plastic.

The photographer was Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson, who is stationed at Navy Public Affairs Support Element East in Norfolk.

And somehow his images’ unusual lighting and dramatic composition — which smooth individual sailors into heroic archetypes and make the calm, predawn Atlantic seawater as lush as oil paint — nearly pushed away my anxieties about rising tensions with an emerging nuclear superpower, and a sky crowded with other mysterious devices.

What they made me think of, instead, was the 19th century, and in particular the paintings of Winslow Homer, who depicted the sea often, giving it a numinous quality that could be dangerous or comradely.

In “The Herring Net” (1885), which shows a fisherman and his small assistant pulling a heavy net into a small boat, the separately lit waves are helpful companions, holding up the boat’s prow and suffering along with the weather.

In the first of Thompson’s Navy photos, similarly, the low, glassy surface of the water seems almost as involved in the action as the sailors — it’s bearing silent witness to what’s happening.

“It is a seductive photograph,” Jeff Rosenheim, head of the department of photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, said in an interview, reviewing Thompson’s image of searchlight-illuminated sailors pulling the wrecked balloon into their boat. “What seduces me is the oblique way you enter it. There’s a very lyrical approach to it, a kind of poetics of description, lighting, materials.”

So, did Thompson get lucky, or is he that good?

The answer, unsurprisingly, is both. Thompson, who has just celebrated his 33rd birthday, spent a year in art school and worked as a graphic designer before joining the Navy in 2012 — expressly, he said, to “take pictures of things that matter.”

“I had an idea in my head about what makes a good photograph,” he said in a phone call. “I was just trying to execute it on about zero hours of sleep.” He acknowledges, though, how significant a role luck played as well.

“Everybody there understood the importance of me getting the shot. Everybody was extremely supportive in helping me frame the shot in a way that could effectively tell the story to the world.”

Sylvia Yount, head of the American Wing at the Met, found surprising art-historical resonances. She compared Thompson’s photos to the “collaborative impulse coming out of disaster” that echoed throughout “Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents,” the 2022 exhibition she co-organized at the Met. “Communities of men seem to be a focus here,” she said.

And they certainly recall “heroic narratives found in American and European history paintings,” she added, such as Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” which hangs at the Met, and Théodore Géricault’s stunning “The Raft of the Medusa,” which is in the collection of the Louvre, in Paris. (The New York Times once called it “a timeless memorial to the desperation of shipwrecked people.”)

And Yount wasn’t the only one noticing those resonances. After staying up all night producing more than 1,000 images — some shot underwater with a Nikon D5, the rest from a boat deck with a Canon 5D — Thompson had to immediately sit and edit them down to 10.

“When I saw that shot,” he said, referring to the searchlit image, “I knew it immediately. It kind of looked like a ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware’ shot to me.” He said he thought, “That looks like something the old masters would have made, and that’s the shot I’m using.”

There are contemporary and more concrete resonances, too. Rosenheim, remembering a long-ago trip to see jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, in California, said the balloon made him think of a sea creature. Yount, noticing how perfectly staged the first photo looks, mentioned photographers Gregory Crewdson and Jeff Wall, both of whom make large, carefully arranged tableaux.

But I kept coming back to the 19th century, and finally to Moby-Dick. The composition in the group image evokes shipwrecks, but more than anything, the sailors look like a whaling crew, pulling at the flayed blubber of their giant prey. (There are even a few mysterious pink blotches on the trailing, tangled end of the balloon to evoke blood.)

In the close-up, we come face to face with the stark white mass itself, and it’s surprising just how alien and difficult to parse it is. Its wrinkles point in all different directions, and its color, depending on where the light falls, varies from pink to green. At once lush as Renaissance drapery and sterile as a syringe, it looks like nothing hopeful or good — but, all those qualities make it, like Moby-Dick, an irresistible artistic subject.

A Navy SEAL stationed in Virginia Beach died last week after a training accident in Arizona.

Chief Special Warfare Operator Michael Ernst was injured in a parachute training accident Feb. 19.

Ernst was assigned to an East Coast Special Warfare Unit based at Virginia Beach’s Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek.

The Navy is investigating the cause of the accident. A Naval Special Warfare Command spokesperson declined to provide additional details.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Ernst family,” said Rear Adm. Keith Davids, commander, Naval Special Warfare Command. “Mike was an exceptional teammate. He was a dedicated NSW Sailor who applied his talents and skills towards some of our nation’s hardest challenges, while selflessly mentoring his teammates. Mike and his family will always be part of the NSW family, and he will never be forgotten.”

Ernst leaves behind a wife and two young children. The Navy SEAL Foundation is accepting donations to go directly to the Ernst family.

Ernst enlisted in the Navy in August 2009. The bulk of Ernst’s SEAL career has been in at the East Coast Special Warfare Unit in Virginia Beach, where he first reported in 2012.

Ernst’s awards and decorations include a Silver Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and three Combat Action Ribbons.

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

Delayed travel claims, difficulty accessing learning material when deployed, and unreliable programs dominated discussions among Norfolk sailors and the Chief of Naval Personnel during an “all hands call” Thursday.

More than 350 sailors gathered at Naval Station Norfolk’s Visa Point Conference Center to voice their frustrations with sluggish pay and personnel systems to Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman.

“All of your questions are incredibly valid. And all of them point to the shortcomings of our current systems,” Cheeseman said.

His office, Cheeseman said, is working to “simplify the culture of excellence.” This includes evaluating the efficiency of administrative processes, identifying areas where approval and resolution processes can be condensed and allocating the necessary resources to staff the MyNavy call center.

“If that means we need to buy more uniformed people and put them back in the budget so you have confidence that your email or call is handled at the center, or that there is some level of expertise to answer the question initially or get it on to the next person to get an expeditious response — we are just not there yet,” Cheeseman said.

One attendee highlighted issues with Ask MyNavy Career Center, saying she requested a corrected statement of service three times over the course of 11 months, only for her case to be closed without reaching a resolution each time. The issue is preventing her from receiving back pay she is owed.

His office is reevaluating the Navy’s call center model, and is working to recruit, hire and train 275 tech support staff members, a process he said will “take time.”

The admiral also discussed his office’s work to modernize the Navy’s human relations and information technology systems. Among the changes Cheeseman is working to implement is streamlining all the Navy’s personnel programs and services into one access point.

“In the end, the absolute vision of MyNavyHR is producing a mission focused sailor … So how do we unburden sailors and unburden commands, make sure all that stuff is taken care of, so when we ask them to go into harm’s way they are not worried about their (Basic Allowance for Housing) or travel claims?” Cheeseman said.

Another sailor who spoke said while new systems are great, it is a hope that the systems are “ready for execution when we use them,” as he described faulty and unreliable personnel programs.

“It kind of damages retention. People just get exhausted dealing with things like this,” he said.

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

Naval Air Station Oceana will bid fair winds and following seas to its commanding officer Friday as the installation welcomes new leadership.

Capt. Steve Djunaedi will become the air station’s 48th commanding officer during a change of command ceremony at the Center for Naval Aviation and Technical Training Unit. Djunaedi will relieve Capt. Bob Holmes, who has served as NAS Oceana’s commanding officer since Aug. 5, 2021.

Djunaedi assumes the position of commanding officer of the East Coast’s hub of naval aviation after a stint as the installation’s executive officer.

Djunaedi graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in political science. He was designated a Naval Flight Officer in April 1999. He later graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School with an Executive Master’s Degree in business administration.

Djunaedi’s operational assignments were with Fighter Squadron 211 and Strike Fighter Squadron 213 Blacklions. He also served as the executive officer and commanding officer of VFA-154 Black Knights, and as the “air boss” on the USS Harry S. Truman, with deployments to support Operation Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Inherent Resolve.

Ashore, Djunaedi served as an instructor at Strike Fighter Weapons School, Atlantic, and as a joint staff liaison officer at NATO’s Headquarters Supreme Allied Command Transformation.

Holmes will retire after a 27-year career with the Navy. He previously served as the executive officer and commanding officer of Electronic Attack Squadron 132; as a policy analyst for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; and as executive assistant to the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

Legislation introduced by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., would prohibit the purchase of drones from countries identified as national security threats.

In an attempt to protect U.S. data, the American Security Drone Act of 2023 would prevent federal agencies from purchasing commercial off-the-shelf drones or unmanned aircraft systems that are manufactured or assembled in China or any entities “subject to influence or control” by China.

“The purchase of drones from foreign countries, especially those that have been deemed a national security threat, is dangerous,” Warner said in a statement released by his office.

The legislation allows for limited exceptions.

While language in Warner and Scott’s new legislation is more broad, banning the purchase of Chinese drones by federal agencies is not a new concept. The Department of Defense banned the purchase of DJI drones, a popular Chinese brand, in 2017, stating that such systems “pose potential threats to national security.”

The urgency to ban drones manufactured in China was reignited following news of a high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon entering U.S. airspace.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said last week the Chinese government is the greatest threat to the economic and national security of the United States. And talks of drones being weaponized to gather intelligence — for China or other entities — dominated discussions during the 2023 Homeland Security Symposium & Expo held last Thursday at Christopher Newport University.

“Unmanned, both threats and opportunities, are growing rapidly in the portfolio across industry, pizza delivery and Department of Defense,” said Rear Adm. Douglas Verissimo, director of maritime operations for U.S. Fleet Forces Command, during a keynote speech at the symposium.

Special Agent Adam Rowland from the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office said drones are easily weaponized and detailed how that poses a threat Hampton Roads, home to 18 military installations.

“If you have a 6-inch drone going up, it can see a half a mile in any direction at least. So, it doesn’t have to be over a military base for it to see the military base. And that is a problem,” Rowland said.

The American Security Drone Act will also prohibit certain federal funds from being used to purchase foreign commercial off-the-shelf drones. The legislation would require the Comptroller General to submit a report to Congress detailing the amount of foreign commercial off-the-shelf drones and covered unmanned aircraft systems procured by federal departments and agencies from countries identified as national security threats.

Warner emphasized in his statement Tuesday that he is not anti-drones, but is a “strong supporter” of domestically produced unmanned systems.

Earlier this month, Warner introduced legislation meant to make it easier for drones to be approved for commercial transport of goods across the U.S.

“If we want the drones of tomorrow to be manufactured in the U.S. and not in China, we have to start working today to integrate them into our airspace,” Warner said.

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine is among two legislators leading a bipartisan push to reassert Congress’ constitutional right to decide when the military is sent to war.

“It’s time for Congress to start once again authorizing our Article I powers over war, peace and diplomacy,” the Virginia Democrat said Thursday during a virtual news conference.

Kaine and Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, reintroduced a bill last week to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force and formally end the Gulf and Iraq wars.

The congressman said allowing the authorizations to stay on the books invites presidents to bypass Congress and use them in “creative ways.”

Additionally, he said Iraq is no longer an enemy of the United States.

“Iraq invited us back in to the country to help them defeat ISIS,” he said. “Iraq is also a partner in our efforts to check Iranian aggression in the region — you shouldn’t label as an enemy a nation that is now a security partner.”

Kaine appeared optimistic about the bill’s prospects.

The measure has the votes to get through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said, and has support from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

In a news release last week, Schumer vowed to quickly move the bill to the Senate floor.

“Every year we keep this authorization to use military force on the books is another chance for a future President to abuse or misuse it,” Schumer stated. “War powers belong squarely in the hands of Congress.”

Kaine said support for the bill has grown since he first introduced it in 2019. It has 22 co-sponsors, and he expects it will pass the Senate.

Although previous presidents have seemed hostile or indifferent to the idea, Kaine said President Joe Biden is “not threatened” by the bill, which he attributed to Biden’s long tenure in Congress.

Kaine added he understands it could be tempting to leave more power in the hands of the executive branch.

“War votes are hard, and if you can let the president make the call and take the heat, then why not let the president make the call and take the heat?” he said.

But, the congressman said, that was not what the founding fathers intended.

“They diverted the course of human history in which war had been a matter for the executive by having the decision to initiate war be a congressional one,” he said. “Congress was given this power, and we should be jealous about it.”

Katie King, [email protected]