The U.S. Senate on Friday rejected a Democratic proposal aimed at preventing President Donald Trump from using military force against Iran in the future without congressional approval. This vote came just hours after Trump stated he would consider renewed bombing of Iran if it enriched uranium to levels suitable for nuclear weapons.
The Republican-majority Senate voted 53 against to 47 for a war powers resolution that would have required congressional consent for further military actions against Iran. The vote largely split along party lines, with the exceptions of Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, who voted against, and Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, who voted for the resolution.
Senator Tim Kaine, the resolution’s main proponent, has for years been attempting to restore Congress’s constitutional authority to declare war, regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat occupies the White House. Kaine argued that his latest effort emphasized how the U.S. Constitution clearly grants Congress, not the president, the exclusive right to declare war, and that any hostilities with Iran must be explicitly approved by a declaration of war or specific authorization for the use of military force.
“If you think the president needs to come before Congress, whether you are for or against a war with Iran, you will support the resolution, you will support the Constitution that has stood the test of time,” Kaine said in a speech before the vote.
Lawmakers had sought more information regarding the U.S. attacks on Iran last weekend, as well as the fate of Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Members of Trump’s national security team held closed-door briefings on the attacks for senators and congressmen on Thursday and Friday. Many Democrats stated after the briefings that they were not convinced that Iranian nuclear facilities had been “destroyed,” as Trump claimed immediately after the operation.
Opponents of the resolution argued that the operation was a single, limited action consistent with the president’s powers as commander-in-chief, rather than the start of a prolonged military conflict. Senator Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee and former ambassador to Japan during Trump’s first term, stated that the proposed measure could hinder any president from reacting swiftly against a long-term adversary. “We must not tie the president’s hands in the midst of a crisis, when lives are at stake,” Hagerty said before the vote.
