Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted down an attempt to require Donald Trump receive Congress’s permission before continuing the war with Iran, batting aside concerns from Democrats that the campaign is illegal and risks plunging the United States into a prolonged conflict.
The 47-53 vote on a war powers resolution introduced by Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine broke largely along party lines. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to vote against the measure, while Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only member of the Republican majority to support the resolution.
The measure would have forced an end to the US air and naval campaign against Iran and require the president to go to Congress before re-entering the war. Before the vote, Democratic senator Chris Murphy said the resolution was necessary to prevent Trump from repeating in Iran the follies of previous US presidents in Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere.
“The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Republicans have learned nothing. Decades of American hubris in the Middle East, believing that US troops, US planes, US guns and US bombs could fundamentally change realities in a far off land. Democrats have learned our lesson,” Murphy said.
Trump ordered the military campaign after months of fruitless negotiations with Tehran intended to resolve the question of their nuclear program. While he notified a small group of top lawmakers beforehand, Kaine argued that the president needs permission from Congress to continue a conflict that has already resulted in the deaths of US soldiers.
“Here we are in a war that has cost American lives, that is leading to chaos throughout the region, that threatens to go bigger and bigger and bigger. And I’m asking the Senate to do what the framers of the constitution said we should do: debate and vote about matters of war,” Kaine said before the vote.
But Republicans countered by arguing that Trump had not broken the law, while focusing on the longstanding enmity between the US and Iran’s hardline Islamic government.
“We’re here to settle the account with the Iranian regime,” said Lindsey Graham, a Republican South Carolina senator.
Referring to the failed talks, he added: “It was clear during those negotiations that Iran is wedded to its agenda. The ayatollah is a religious Nazi. He’s no more likely to give up his agenda than Hitler was.”
Mitch McConnell, the Republican former Senate leader, argued that Trump’s incursion into Iran was no different than previous military actions by US presidents.
“As I’ve explained so many times over the years, the powers of the president for the use of military force, with or without prior congressional approval, are actually well established,” McConnell said.
“President Trump’s use of force to end Iran’s war of terror is squarely within his inherent authorities as commander-in-chief.”
Six US service members have been killed since the conflict began, as well as an estimated 1,045 to 1,500 people in Iran.
The House of Representatives will on Thursday vote on a war powers resolution introduced by Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna, but it faces similarly dim odds. The chamber’s Republican leaders oppose the resolution, with speaker Mike Johnson warning it would be “dangerous” to suddenly halt US participation in hostilities that remain ongoing.
“The idea that we would take the ability of our commander in chief, the president, take his authority away right now to finish this job, is a frightening prospect to me. It’s dangerous,” the House speaker said. “I am certainly hopeful and I believe we do have votes to put it down.”
Even if a war powers resolution were to clear the House and Senate, Trump could veto it, and lawmakers would need two-thirds majorities in both chambers to override that. The president has also retaliated against lawmakers who have broken with him over foreign policy issues, including saying that four Republican senators who voted in January to advance a war powers resolution blocking hostilities against Venezuela “should never be elected to office again”. Two of those senators later dropped their support, and the measure failed.
