The U.S. Senate is poised to consider a new Democratic-led proposal to restrict President Donald Trump’s authority to conduct military operations in Iran, with congressional leaders signaling they will press the issue repeatedly as long as the conflict continues.
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a Senate address that the party intends to keep introducing war powers resolutions while the hostilities persist. "Forty-five days into this war, Congress has been sidelined because our Republican colleagues refuse to take a strong stand against this war and duck it completely because they’re afraid of Trump," Schumer said.
The renewed push comes as diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting showed signs of being revived. Trump said on Tuesday that talks to end the Iran war could resume in Pakistan over the next two days after weekend negotiations collapsed, prompting the United States to impose a blockade on Iranian ports. Observers cautioned that the failure to reach an agreement in those earlier talks cast doubt on whether a two-week ceasefire - which still has a week to run - would survive.
Democrats have repeatedly sought to use war powers resolutions to force the administration to halt military operations and obtain congressional authorization before undertaking further actions. The party has filed measures in recent months aimed at directing the president to stop military action and secure lawmakers’ approval in conflicts involving both Venezuela and Iran, but those efforts have not succeeded.
Senate leaders said on Tuesday that 10 additional war powers resolutions have been submitted and that Democrats plan to bring one to the floor each week while the conflict, which began on February 28, remains active. Senate aides expected the next resolution - sponsored by Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a combat veteran - to reach the floor as soon as Wednesday. House aides said a comparable Iran war powers resolution could receive a vote in that chamber as early as Thursday.
Republican senators have blocked prior resolutions and showed no signs of changing course. They maintain support for the president’s approach and say they do not expect the conflict to be protracted. Senate Republican Leader John Thune of South Dakota defended the administration’s campaign at a news conference, saying, "The military effort here has been extraordinarily successful. I think the administration has a clear objective, a clear plan, and if they can execute on it that question (of whether Congress should authorize a prolonged conflict) won’t be a necessary one that we will be forced to answer."
The constitutional allocation of war-declaring power to Congress remains a touchstone in the debate. Legal and political interpretations differ over the need for congressional authorization for short-term operations or actions taken in response to an immediate threat. The White House has argued that Mr. Trump’s actions are lawful and fall within his authority as commander-in-chief to order limited strikes intended to protect the United States.
Lawmakers on both sides have tied the policy dispute to domestic political and economic concerns. Congressional Democrats framed their campaign to curb presidential war powers around affordability, noting that disruptions to shipments of oil and natural gas have contributed to higher U.S. gasoline prices and driven up costs for agricultural products such as fertilizers. Those price moves add to an already broad set of consumer cost pressures that are politically salient.
Rising prices are a particularly sensitive issue for Republicans as they prepare for November elections less than seven months away, contests that will determine control of Congress. Some Republican strategists have expressed unease about the latest inflationary spike and its potential electoral implications, while party leaders publicly voiced confidence in the trajectory of the military campaign.
Timing for the Senate vote had not been formally announced by Tuesday evening, though legislative staffers expected action on the Duckworth-sponsored resolution quickly. The House timetable, according to aides, sets up a possible vote on a similar Iran-related war powers measure by Thursday.
As the two parties prepare for another round of floor fights, the immediate path for any successful effort to curtail the president’s authority appears narrow given Republican control of both chambers. Democrats, however, said they would continue to press the issue with weekly filings and votes while the conflict endures.