The Trump administration appears to have locked down enough support to defeat Democrat-led war powers resolutions aimed at requiring congressional approval for further non-defensive military action against Iran.
The Senate will vote Wednesday and the House will vote Thursday on similar war powers resolutions after Trump administration officials hosted classified briefings for each chamber Tuesday on Operation Epic Fury.
Both measures are expected to fail, as most Republicans say President Trump operated within his Article II power as commander-in-chief to preemptively strike Iran.
“I think it was a necessary step to protect American lives,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, citing an “imminent threat” to American assets in the region.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said he’s glad the U.S. didn’t let Iran build more missiles and regenerate its nuclear capabilities after Operation Midnight Hammer last summer.
“The idea that you’re going to let a homicidal maniac get to the imminent stage to me is misplaced,” he said of the regime. “So I’ve never felt better about how this ends.”
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Democrats say the Trump administration has not provided enough evidence to show Iran planned to imminently attack U.S. troops and assets in the region, and that the ongoing operation needs to be approved by Congress.
“If this doesn’t count as war, then what in God’s name does?” Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey said. “Just the sheer firepower – and they’re saying that we’re expecting even stronger strikes from the United States going forward.”
“This is the Trump Iran war, and he is the one that has put these service members in harm’s way as we mourn the loss of six,” he said.
The Senate and House war powers resolutions both direct Mr. Trump to cease military hostilities against Iran “unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for use of military force,” and provide an exception for the U.S. to defend itself against an imminent attack.
The Senate resolution goes a step further and would also allow the U.S. to assist Israel and other nations in taking defensive action against Iran.
War powers resolutions are privileged, meaning any lawmaker can force a vote, and the measure can pass with a simple majority.
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Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat and lead sponsor of the Senate version, said Mr. Trump is breaking his campaign promise to end wars, not start them.
“Haven’t we learned anything from 25 years in the wars in the Middle East?” he said. “More than 14,000 U.S. troops and contractors killed, more than 65,000 troops and contractors injured, hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, $8.2 trillion that could have been spent here at home spent on wars in the Middle East – and what did we get out of it?”
Mr. Kaine is expected to have support from most Democrats for the war powers resolution, except for Pennsylvania Sen. Jon Fetterman, who is applauding the strikes on Iran.
“Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that,” Mr. Fetterman wrote on social media. “Empty sloganeering vs. commitment to global security — which is it?”
Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul is supporting the war powers resolution, but it would take four additional Republicans to pass. Some who’ve previously voted for war powers measures said they are not backing this one.
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, said the Trump administration is operating within the confines of the War Powers Act for now, but would need congressional approval if it were to put boots on the ground in Iran.
Earlier this year, after the U.S. launched military strikes in Venezuela to capture dictator Nicolas Maduro, Mr. Hawley and Sen. Todd Young, Indiana Republican, initially supported advancing a war powers resolution to restrict the president from further hostilities. But they flipped their votes after assurances that the Trump administration was not planning to deploy troops in Venezuela.
Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who maintained support for the Kaine-led Venezuela war powers resolution, declined to comment Tuesday on how they would vote regarding the Iran war powers resolution.
“It was an important briefing that we had today, and it is a situation that’s clearly evolving rapidly,” Ms. Murkowski said.
Regardless of whether Ms. Murkowski and Ms. Collins support the war powers measure, it would still be short of the 51 votes needed to pass.
“It’ll go like it usually does. We’ll have to tap Tim Kaine down one more time,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, North Dakota Republican, noting he considers Mr. Kaine a friend but “he’s overstaying his welcome on war powers.”
In the House, the war powers resolution is led by Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, but most other Republicans are opposed.
One potential GOP supporter is Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson, who said he needs to be persuaded that the Iran strikes were necessary.
“I do not support a regime-change war, and any boots on the ground or prolonged conflict requires authorization from Congress,” he wrote on social media.
Mr. Massie and Mr. Davidson voting for the war powers resolution would be enough for it to pass if all Democrats were united in support. But at least a handful have raised concerns that the measure would require the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces while Iran is actively targeting American troops and assets in the region.
A group of six House Democrats unveiled an alternate war powers resolution that would give the administration 30 days since the strikes began to end hostilities with Iran.
It would still allow the U.S. to maintain a military presence in the region for defensive reasons, but specifies that Mr. Trump could not deploy boots on the ground without congressional approval.
The measure also calls for the president and administration officials to regularly brief Congress on the goals and objectives of the military action taken.
“This new Democratic War Powers Resolution will uphold Congress’s constitutional authority — while also ensuring the U.S. can defend our troops, embassies, and allies from Iranian aggression,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey Democrat, said on social media. “We must protect our troops and allies.”
The other Democrats backing the alternative measure are Reps. Greg Landsman of Ohio, Jim Costa of California, Jared Golden of Maine, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Jimmy Panetta of California.
Congress’ efforts to exert its war powers authority are backed by leaders of the Make America Healthy Again movement, who launched a petition Tuesday urging Congress to terminate the war against Iran.
“We, the undersigned, are American citizens who care deeply about the health of our nation: both its physical health of its people, and the moral health of its conduct in the world,” the petition reads. “We understand that these are related. Neither can stand without the other.”
The campaign is led by Charles Eisenstein, the chief speechwriter for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his presidential run; Meryll Nass, M.D., a scientific advisor to Children’s Health Defense, and David Murphy, founder of United We Eat Action Fund and former finance director for Mr. Kennedy’s presidential campaign.
“This country spent $8 trillion on regime-change wars after 9/11,” Mr. Eisenstein said. “We could have spent that on infrastructure, on safe food, clean water, and healthy soil. Instead, those wars bankrupted our nation — economically and morally. That is why we are calling on the MAHA movement to support the war powers resolutions.”
