Senate Democrats are preparing for another attempt to restrict President Trump’s military authority, with a planned vote as early as Wednesday on legislation targeting his Iran war powers.
Democratic leadership announced Tuesday they will continue introducing such measures on a weekly basis throughout the ongoing Iranian conflict, which entered its 45th day.
“Forty-five days into this war, Congress has been sidelined because our Republican colleagues refuse to take a strong stand against this war and duck it completely because they’re afraid of Trump,” Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a Senate speech on Tuesday.
The president indicated Tuesday that diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian conflict might restart in Pakistan within the coming days, following the breakdown of weekend peace talks that led Washington to establish a blockade of Iranian ports. The failure of those negotiations has cast uncertainty over a two-week ceasefire agreement that still has one week remaining.
Democratic lawmakers have made multiple unsuccessful attempts in recent months to advance war powers legislation that would compel Trump to halt military operations and seek congressional approval before initiating future military campaigns in both Venezuela and Iran.
Party strategists are connecting their push to constrain Trump’s Iran policy with economic concerns, as supply chain disruptions affecting oil and natural gas have driven up gasoline costs and prices for agricultural supplies like fertilizers, adding to existing consumer price pressures.
Rising costs remain among the most politically sensitive issues for American voters, and the current inflationary surge is creating anxiety among Republican strategists concerned about their party’s electoral chances with less than seven months until November’s congressional elections.
Schumer revealed that Democrats have prepared 10 additional war powers resolutions and plan to introduce them weekly while the Iranian conflict, which started February 28, remains active.
Republicans, who maintain narrow control in both congressional chambers, have successfully defeated all previous resolutions and show no signs of changing their stance.
GOP legislators express support for Trump’s military approach and anticipate the conflict will conclude soon. “The military effort here has been extraordinarily successful,” Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota told a news conference.
“I think the administration has a clear objective, a clear plan, and if they can execute on it that question (of whether Congress should authorize a prolonged conflict) won’t be a necessary one that we will be forced to answer,” Thune said.
While the Constitution grants Congress, rather than the president, authority to declare war, this limitation doesn’t extend to brief operations or situations involving immediate national threats.
White House officials maintain that Trump’s military actions remain lawful and fall within his constitutional authority as commander-in-chief to safeguard the nation through limited military interventions.
Senate staff indicated Tuesday evening that the upcoming resolution, sponsored by Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, a military veteran, could reach the floor Wednesday, though no official timing was confirmed.
House representatives expect a similar Iran war powers measure to receive a vote in their chamber as early as Thursday.
