It's been 24 years since 9/11. Congress is just now repealing the retaliatory war powers.

WASHINGTON — The House passed an amendment on Wednesday to officially repeal the military force permissions approved in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks — nearly 24 years after they were first enacted.

Lawmakers voted 261-167 on an amendment to repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force, initially passed to give then-President George W. Bush the power to deploy U.S. troops to Iraq in the months after the 9/11 terrorist attack. The authorization gave sweeping powers to the president to “defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq” and served as the legal basis for Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.

But the authorization has remained in place decades after the attack and has been used to justify U.S. military operations in the