WASHINGTON — Federal lawmakers are preparing to hold war powers discussions regarding President Trump’s military actions against Iran under unprecedented conditions — the conflict has already begun, and the nation finds itself essentially engaged in warfare.
Military strikes are occurring, casualties are mounting, and threats of retaliation continue to escalate, while countless taxpayer funds support a military operation expected to last weeks without clearly defined objectives or endpoints. This situation differs markedly from the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq conflict, which featured extensive congressional deliberations following the September 11, 2001 attacks, or recent limited U.S. strikes on Venezuela. The combined American-Israeli military operation against Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, is actively progressing with no apparent conclusion in view.
At least three American military service members have lost their lives, with Trump cautioning Sunday that “there will likely be more.”
This represents a crucial moment for Congress, which holds exclusive constitutional authority to declare war, and for the Republican commander-in-chief, who has repeatedly expanded executive power during his second term with seemingly unlimited views of presidential authority.
“The Constitution is intended to prevent the accumulation of power in any one branch of government — and in any one person in government,” stated David Janovsky, acting director of The Constitution Project at the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog organization.
“Congress is the people’s representatives in a way that the president isn’t, even though we tend to focus on the president,” he explained. “We need the people’s representatives to weigh in on whether we, the people, are going to war right now.”
Within the United States, Congress must explicitly authorize military operations through either a war declaration or an authorization for the use of military force to sanction such actions. However, this process occurs infrequently.
Congress has actually declared war only five times throughout American history, last doing so in 1941 to join World War II following the Pearl Harbor assault. Lawmakers approved an AUMF for the 1990 Gulf conflict and again in 2001 and 2002 to initiate post-9/11 military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
However, Congress also established the war powers resolution during the Vietnam conflict era as a final option — designed to restrain presidents who had initiated military operations without legislative consent.
Both chambers have prepared war powers resolutions for voting this week.
Senator Mark Warner, the leading Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, declared that Trump, as commander-in-chief, “does not have the right to do this on his own.”
“When the president commits American forces to a war of choice, he needs to come before Congress and the American people and ask for a declaration of war,” Warner stated on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
While legislators have condemned the Iranian government and its nuclear programs, Democrats argue Trump has failed to provide justification for the conflict or describe future strategy, and Trump’s MAGA supporters are dividing over what they view as the president’s inability to honor his “America First” pledge by drawing the U.S. into foreign warfare. Many representatives fear prolonged involvement as the operation resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and hundreds of regional casualties.
Administration officials are scheduled to update congressional leadership and members this week, though these question-and-answer sessions will occur privately, away from public scrutiny.
Historically, presidents from both parties have gathered extensive power to conduct often limited American military actions to achieve strategic national security objectives without legislative approval. Democratic President Barack Obama’s Libyan operations and Republican George H.W. Bush’s Panama interventions proceeded without congressional endorsement.
Yet limiting presidential war powers remains something lawmakers have seldom managed to achieve. Even if Congress successfully passes a war powers resolution to restrict Trump’s Iran actions, neither chamber would likely gather the two-thirds majority required to override a presidential veto.
Trump has dismissed Congress’s ability to control his actions in warfare and other areas. He provided only brief Iran commentary during last week’s State of the Union speech, treating legislative support as secondary.
John Yoo, a University of California, Berkeley law professor, explained that the Founding Fathers created a constitutional framework where the president and Congress would compete over these matters — with Congress wielding one especially strong weapon through federal budget control.
“Congress, they know how to stop this if they want to,” said Yoo, who assisted in creating the Bush administration’s 2001 and 2002 force authorizations. The Vietnam conflict concluded once Congress eliminated funding, he noted.
But Congress remains under Republican control that generally supports Trump’s approach of directing military force against Iran, and recently authorized significant new Pentagon funding, approximately $175 billion, through the major tax reduction legislation he enacted last year.
With the Republican president’s party controlling both the House and Senate, their reluctance to oppose him comes as no surprise, Yoo observed: “They agree with him.”
Before the debates, Republican Senator Tom Cotton, the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, said Trump has already outlined his Iran strategy.
Cotton explained Sunday that Trump has clarified the U.S. won’t deploy ground troops within Iran. Instead, Americans should anticipate an “extended air and naval campaign” throughout the region, which might lead to downed pilots, though he said military personnel would be retrieved.
He anticipates a campaign lasting several weeks as Iran selects new leadership and decides its response to American attacks.
“There’s no simple answer for what’s going to come next,” Cotton remarked on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
