Bill cancels old Cold War rule about military force
S. 5206 — Cold War Military Force Repeal Act · Filed by Tim Kaine (D-VA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill cancels Public Law 85–7 from 1957. That rule let the President use force in the Middle East. Now the President must ask Congress before using force there.
Who it affects
Congress gets back power over military action in the Middle East. People and their chosen leaders get a say instead of relying on a 70-year-old rule.
One thing to notice
Canceling this 1957 rule does not stop force that Congress approved in 2001 or 2002. The President might still have other rules that let him use force in the Middle East.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Jul 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 30, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Foreign Relations · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (321 characters) on Aug 6, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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