House Iran War Powers Resolution Could Lose Support to Competing Bill by Pro-Israel Democrat |
Special Investigations
Press Freedom Defense Fund
House Iran War Powers Resolution Could Lose Support to Competing Bill by Pro-Israel Democrat
The Senate version already failed, with Fetterman once again casting the only Democratic vote against imposing restrictions on Trump’s Iran war.
The U.S. Senate declined an opportunity to rein in President Donald Trump’s unauthorized war on Iran in a vote Wednesday as the conflict’s toll mounted.
Nearly all Republicans were joined by Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., in blocking a resolution that would have forced Trump to seek congressional approval for further strikes.
Democratic Leaders Avoid Criticizing Trump’s Iran War. Now Voters Will Have a Say.
Advocates of the measure and a companion in the House, known as war powers resolutions, acknowledged they were uphill battles given the near-unanimous support for the war among the Republicans who control Congress. They said the votes were still important as a test for lawmakers given Trump’s opposition to seeking congressional approval for the joint Israeli–American war on Iran.
The House of Representatives is set to vote on another measure Thursday that also faces long odds, in part because a small group of pro-Israel Democrats have introduced competing legislation.
“Any representative that is actually against the war, that’s the vehicle they should be voting for now.”
“Any representative that is actually against the war, that’s the vehicle they should be voting for now.”
The companion resolution to the Senate’s was sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky. Besides Massie, however, only one other Republican has been identified as a potential yes vote for the resolution.
Several Democrats seem set oppose the resolution despite party leadership’s decision to whip votes on it.
One is Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., a staunch supporter of Israel who has offered a resolution of his own that would allow Trump 30 days to continue attacks. Gottheimer said in a statement that his measure would allow Trump to avoid a “potentially precarious withdrawal.”
An advocate backing the Khanna–Massie resolution noted that the 30-day time frame lines up with how long Trump has suggested the conflict might last.
“There is already a vote this week on Khanna–Massie. Any representative that is actually against the war, that’s the vehicle they should be voting for now, and not attempting to give Trump a blank check for 30 days,” Cavan Kharrazian, a senior policy adviser at the progressive group Demand Progress, said Tuesday. “We have already seen in the past four days the death and destruction and........