WASHINGTON: The House narrowly rejected a war powers resolution Thursday to halt President Donald Trump\u2019s attacks on Iran, an early sign of unease in Congress over the rapidly widening conflict that is reordering US priorities at home and abroad.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the second vote in as many days, after the Senate defeated a similar measure. Lawmakers are confronting the sudden reality of representing wary Americans in wartime and all that entails \u2014 with lives lost, dollars spent and alliances tested by a president\u2019s unilateral decision to go to war with Iran.<\/p>\n
While the tally in the House, 212-219, was expected to be tight, the outcome provided a clarifying snapshot of political support for, and opposition to, the US-Israel military operation and Trump\u2019s rationale for bypassing Congress, which alone has the power to declare war. At the Capitol, the conflict has quickly carried echoes of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and many Sept. 11-era veterans now serve in Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump is not a king, and if he believes the war with Iran is in our national interest, then he must come to Congress and make the case,\u201d said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that it would be \u201cdangerous\u201d to limit the president\u2019s authority while the US military is already in conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not at war,\u201d said Johnson, R-Louisiana, a close ally of Trump, contradicting others. He said the operation is limited in scope and duration, and the \u201cmission is nearly accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republicans largely back Trump, and most Democrats oppose the war<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s Republican Party, which narrowly controls the House and Senate, largely sees the conflict with Iran not as the start of a new war, but the end of a government that has long menaced the West. The operation has killed Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which some view as an opportunity for regime change, though others warn of a chaotic power vacuum.<\/p>\n
Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, publicly thanked Trump for taking action against Iran, saying the president is using his own constitutional authority to defend the US against the \u201cimminent threat\u201d the country posed.<\/p>\n
Mast, an Army veteran who worked as a bomb disposal expert in Afghanistan, said the war powers resolution was effectively asking \u201cthat the president do nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Democrats, Trump\u2019s attack on Iran, influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is a war of choice that is testing the balance of powers in the Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe framers weren\u2019t fooling around,\u201d said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., arguing that the Constitution is clear that only Congress can decide matters of war. \u201cIt\u2019s up to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crossover coalitions emerged among those in Congress. Two Republicans joined most Democrats in voting for the war powers resolution, while four Democrats joined Republicans to reject it.<\/p>\n
The war powers resolution, if signed into law, would have immediately halted Trump\u2019s ability to conduct the war unless Congress approved the military action. The president would likely veto it.<\/p>\n
Trump officials provide shifting rationale for war<\/p>\n
Trump has scrambled to win support for the nearly week-old conflict as Americans of all political persuasions take stock. Administration officials spent hours behind closed doors on Capitol Hill this week trying to reassure lawmakers that they have the situation under control.<\/p>\n
Six US military members were killed over the weekend in a drone strike in Kuwait, and Trump has said more Americans could die. Thousands of Americans abroad have scrambled for flights, many lighting up phone lines at congressional offices as they sought help trying to flee the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Trump said Thursday he must be involved in choosing Iran\u2019s new leader. Yet Johnson, R-Louisiana, said this week that America has enough problems at home and is not about to be in the \u201cnation-building business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the war could extend eight weeks, twice as long as the president first estimated. Trump has left open the possibility of sending US troops into what has largely been a bombing campaign. More than 1,230 people in Iran have died.<\/p>\n
The administration said the goal is to destroy Iran\u2019s ballistic missiles that it believes are shielding its nuclear program. It has also said Israel was ready to act, and American bases would face retaliation if the US did not strike Iran first. The US said Wednesday it torpedoed an Iranian warship near Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis administration can\u2019t even give us a straight answer of as to why we launched this preemptive war,\u201d said Rep. Thomas Massie, the Republican from Kentucky, an outlier in his party.<\/p>\n
Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who had teamed up to force the release the Jeffrey Epstein files, also pushed the war powers resolution to the floor, past objections from Johnson\u2019s GOP leadership. Republican Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, a former Army Ranger, also voted for it. Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Greg Landsman of Ohio and Juan Vargas of California voted against.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongress must stand with the president to finally close, once and for all, this dark chapter of history,\u201d said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.<\/p>\n
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Arizona, said that as the daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled their homeland, she opposes the regime but is concerned that a democratic transition for the people of Iran never seems to a priority for Trump or the officials who briefed Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWar carries profound and deadly consequences for our troops, for the American people and for the entire world,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the most serious decision that a nation can make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other Democrats have proposed an alternative resolution that would allow the president to continue the war for 30 days before he must seek congressional approval. The House also approved a separate measure affirming that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism.<\/p>\n
Senators sit in their desks for solemn vote<\/p>\n
In the Senate, Republican leaders have successfully, though narrowly, defeated a series of war powers resolutions pertaining to several other conflicts during Trump\u2019s second term. This one, however, was different.<\/p>\n
Underscoring the gravity Wednesday, Democratic senators sat at their desks as the voting got underway.<\/p>\n
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that every senator will pick a side. \u201cDo you stand with the American people who are exhausted with forever wars in the Middle East?\u201d he asked. Or with Trump and Hegseth \u201cas they bumble us headfirst into another war?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. John Barrasso, second in Senate Republican leadership, said, \u201cDemocrats would rather obstruct Donald Trump than obliterate Iran\u2019s national nuclear program.\u201d<\/p>\n
The legislation failed on a 47-53 tally mostly along party lines, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, in favor and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, against.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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