Washington — The Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would repeal decades-old authorizations for use of military force for the Iraq and Persian Gulf wars, a move by Congress to reassert its constitutional authority to declare war.

The bill passed on a 66-30 vote with strong bipartisan support, as it did in procedural votes this month that brought together an unusual coalition of lawmakers. As the final vote was announced in the chamber, senators on both sides of the aisle applauded.

The White House has signaled it will back the legislation, which now moves to the House.

If signed into law, the bill would repeal the 1991 Gulf War authorization and the 2002 Iraq War authorization. A bipartisan group of lawmakers who support the new legislation argue that it is necessary to prevent abuse by presidential administrations that could use the old authorizations for use of military force, or AUMFs, to launch unrelated combat operations without congressional approval on where and when to send troops.

"The entire world has changed dramatically since 2002, and it's time the laws on the books catch up with those changes. These AUMFs have outlived their use," Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said in floor remarks Wednesday. "War powers belong in the hands of Congress, and so we have an obligation to prevent future presidents from exploiting these AUMFs to bumble us into a new Middle East conflict."

The Senate Republicans who joined Democrats to advance the bill included anti-interventionist skeptics of U.S. military aid to Ukraine like Josh Hawley, Mo., as well as moderate Republicans, such as Susan Collins, Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, who have strongly supported Ukraine aid and America's commitment to NATO. Their support came the same month that both Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis - both likely rivals for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination - expressed strong skepticism for the United States' continued commitment to helping Ukraine fend off a Russian invasion.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has remained steadfastly opposed to the bill, though he was not present for Wednesday's final vote on the legislation. McConnell has been absent since he fell and suffered a concussion and a broken rib at a private dinner early this month.

"I am opposed to Congress sunsetting any military force authorizations in the Middle East," McConnell said in a statement Tuesday. "Our terrorist enemies aren't sunsetting their war against us. And when we deploy our servicemembers in harm's way, we need to supply them with all the support and legal authorities that we can."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a combat veteran who lost both legs when her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by small-arms fire in the Iraq War, applauded the bill's passage Wednesday.

"If we choose to send our finest into battle, then we need to debate and vote to do so based on current conditions," Duckworth said in a statement. "I'm proud that today the Senate finally voted to repeal these decades-old AUMFs so we can start honoring our troops in the way they deserve, and I hope the House will move quickly to get this to President Biden's desk."

In the House, several Republican and Democratic lawmakers have already publicly expressed support for the legislation. Shortly after the Senate passage of the bill Wednesday, Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., an Iraq War veteran, called on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to bring the bill to the House floor immediately "on behalf of all veterans who served and sacrificed in these wars."

Both conservative and liberal organizations — from Heritage Action to Common Defense — have similarly urged the House to follow the Senate's lead and pass the bill.

McCarthy has said he would support repealing the 1991 and 2002 authorizations, as long as they did not touch a separate 2001 authorization enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks "to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States." In an 86-9 vote, the Senate last week soundly rejected an amendment to the bill by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have repealed the 2001 authorization.

"I still want to take actions if there are terrorists anywhere around the world," McCarthy told reporters March 21 at a GOP retreat in Florida. "If we're keeping that one [2001] AUMF and removing another one, that's personally where I am."

The Senate also rejected last week an amendment by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., that would have provided for more targeted authority under the 2002 authorization.

The House most recently voted to repeal the 2002 authorization for military force in Iraq in 2021, with all but one Democrat voting in support. While 49 Republicans helped pass the bill then, many from the moderate and hard-right wings of the conference, a majority of Republicans opposed the measure, arguing at the time that ending existing AUMFs could weaken the United States' posture in responding to current, more modern threats. The bill was introduced in the Senate that year but never received a floor vote.

The White House has indicated that President Biden would sign the current bill to repeal the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs if it reached his desk, noting that the United States conducts no ongoing military activities that rely primarily on either authorization.

A bipartisan group of senators, led by Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Todd C. Young, R-Ind., spearheaded the effort to repeal the authorizations of military force before the 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War this month, noting that Iraq is now a "strategic partner," not an "enemy" state as it was when the United States invaded the country in 2003.

In floor remarks Wednesday, Kaine noted that nearly 4,500 Americans had lost their lives in Iraq, while more than 31,000 U.S. troops were wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed in the war, he added.

"I rise thinking about all of them as we come close to a vote to declare that these wars are over," Kaine said.

Young has said the effort to repeal the authorizations transcends party politics, political philosophies or geography. The anniversary is a time to honor the 1.5 million Americans who served during the Iraq War, as well as a time for "reflection on where war powers rest" in the United States, Kaine and Young wrote in a joint op-ed for Fox News published this month.

"Those troops we honor this month may be surprised to know the legal authorization to wage war against Iraq is still on the books today, even though it serves no operational purpose and Iraq is now a strategic partner," they wrote.

To give a sense of how outdated these authorizations are, Kaine and Young pointed out that only three of the 100 members of the current Senate were in office when the Gulf War was authorized in 1991. Only a handful of members of the current Congress were in office when Operation Iraqi Freedom was authorized in 2002.

"This is an important moment for the Senate and our nation," Young said in a statement Wednesday. "Passage of this bill with strong bipartisan support takes us a step closer to restoring the proper role of Congress in authorizing military force and affirmatively stating when conflicts are over."

The Washington Post's Liz Goodwin contributed to this report.