Congress will not stop the war with Iran

US senators voted 52-47, largely along party lines, against a war powers resolution on Wednesday afternoon that would have stopped the Trump administration from continuing its illegal military campaign against Iran without congressional approval.

Every Republican except Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul opposed the resolution; all Democrats apart from Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania supported it. Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) did not vote. 

The resolution “directs the President to remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for use of military force.” Article 1 of the Constitution grants Congress—not the president—the power to declare war, and the War Powers Act grants Congress the power to halt unauthorized military action by requiring troop withdrawal within 60 to 90 days.

“I’m here to call bullshit on the President of the United States.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who sponsored the measure, said on the Senate floor just before the vote. “Every moment that Donald Trump leaves our heroes mired in the muck of this illegal war of choice in Iran, he is showing that he cares more about saving his own face than leading our troops.”

Duckworth is a veteran who lost both legs serving in the US Army during the Iraq War. In her remarks on the Senate floor, she said the Trump administration has not offered sufficient justification for launching—and now escalating—the war. 

“War is always tragic, but when it’s preventable, when it’s unjustified, it’s not just tragic—it’s a travesty,” Duckworth said. 

The Democratic-led measure was widely anticipated to fail. As I wrote shortly before the Senate’s previous war powers vote in March, which ended in a 47-53 vote against—with Sens. Paul and Fetterman being the same lawmakers to cross party lines—even if the resolution passed, it would ultimately require a two-thirds congressional majority to overturn Trump’s inevitable presidential veto. 

Many lawmakers thus approached the resolution as a way to drive home their stance on the war. In that light, what we saw Wednesday was not reassuring: four such resolutions have now failed since the start of the current war in February, while more than 2,000 people have been killed in Iran, according to the country’s health ministry—possibly many more, with figures not updated since April 3—and the US military has confirmed 13 combat-related deaths across the region.