War Powers

Matthew Petti | 10.16.2024 5:00 PM

The only times Congress has ever invoked the War Powers Act to stop a war were when Donald Trump was president. In 2019, both houses of Congress passed a resolution demanding the U.S. forces get out of the Saudi-led war in Yemen. In 2020, both houses voted to stop "hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran…unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force." Although Trump vetoed both, there was bipartisan support for asserting Congress' powers over war and peace.

Now that President Joe Biden is sending U.S. troops to help Israel fight Iran, many members of Congress seem fine with unauthorized military action. And like the earlier push for restraint, this newfound hawkishness is bipartisan. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R–Fla.) spoke positively about Biden's troop deployment and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D–Conn.) openly endorsed it. Both had voted for the 2020 war powers resolution. Other war powers critics remained silent.

Rep. Scott Perry (R–Pa.) was one of the rare public skeptics of the deployment. "I'm happy that we're providing Israel the defensive equipment, munitions, et cetera," he said on an online talk show. "I don't know why American service members need to be on the ground there in the combat zone…America is going to be drawn more into this war unnecessarily."

Four Democratic congresswomen—Cori Bush of Missouri, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan—also called on the Biden administration to end military support for Israel without mentioning the troop deployment specifically.

On Sunday, the Pentagon announced the deployment of around 100 troops to operate a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile battery in Israel. The deployment comes as Israeli leaders publicly plan to attack Iran as part of a tit-for-tat between the two countries over the past few months. The Iranian government has implied that if Israel attacks, it will retaliate without regard to whether U.S. troops are in the way.

And the threat to American lives is not just in........

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