Paul: ‘Very hard’ to debate war powers once combat begins

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the only Republican senator to vote last week for a resolution to halt military action against Iran, says it will be very hard to persuade GOP colleagues to vote to limit President Trump’s authority as commander-in-chief now that U.S. forces are actively engaged in strikes against Iran.

Paul sounded pessimistic about Congress voting to curtail U.S. military actions against Iran, which Trump says has already included 5,000 strikes against Iranian targets.

“Our Founding Fathers thought that really war happened too often, war should be the last resort, and that is why we should have Congress vote on it first. It’s very difficult after it starts, really, to have a debate over this because once the soldiers are in the field, it’s very hard to have this debate,” Paul told Maria Bartiromo, the host of “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business.

Paul’s comments reflected the reluctance of GOP lawmakers who supported a war powers resolution to stop additional military action against Venezuela to now vote to cease military hostilities against Iran.

Moderate Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who supported the Venezuela war powers resolution earlier this year, voted against the Iran resolution that Paul cosponsored with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and other Democrats.

Collins specifically cited the need to support U.S. troops engaged in combat in the statement explaining her vote.

“Passing this resolution now would send the wrong message to Iran and to our troops. At this juncture, providing unequivocal support to our service members is critically important, as is ongoing consultation by the Administration with Congress,” Collins said.

Paul, however, said the debate over war powers would continue in Congress.

“I think the debate is not over. You know, our Founding Fathers were very clear that the initiation or declaration of war should begin in Congress, you know, this is where it’s supposed to happen, we’re supposed to have this debate,” he said.

Senate Democrats have filed five more privileged resolutions to direct Trump to end the conflict with Iran and plan to hold several more floor votes on the issue in the weeks ahead.

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