Latest news with #warpowers
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Democrats lash out at ‘erratic' Trump over Iran strikes, demand vote to rein in war powers
Democrats bristled on Sunday over US President Donald Trump's decision to launch air strikes on Iran without seeking authorisation from Congress, accusing the Republican of violating the constitution and demanding a vote to rein in his war powers. Advertisement Members of the Senate and House of Representatives argued that US intelligence had not shown an imminent threat from the Middle Eastern country that justified Trump's unilateral action. 'President Trump's actions in bombing Iran puts the US on the brink of a wider war in the Middle East, all without constitutionally required Congressional approval,' Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said in a statement. Democrats were divided between those demanding a vote on a war powers resolution to constrain Trump's authority to launch further action and a smaller group, who maintained that the strikes were grounds for the Republican leader's impeachment. They included Illinois moderate Sean Casten and New York leftist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who accused the president of having 'impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations'. Advertisement Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leaders in the Senate and House respectively, said Trump had 'dramatically increased' America's risk of becoming embroiled in a new Middle Eastern conflagration. 'No president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy,' Schumer said.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
'Instincts for restraint': Senate divided over who gets to declare war
Lawmakers are debating what role Congress should play as the White House weighs its options in Iran. Does the legislative body have sole power to declare war, or should that power be ceded to the president? The back and forth comes as President Donald Trump mulls whether to join Israel in its campaign against Iran or continue pushing for a diplomatic end and return to the negotiating table to hammer out a nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. Helping to ignite the arguments on Capitol Hill are a pair of resolutions in the Senate and House that would require debate and a vote before any force is used against Iran. The measures are designed to put a check on Trump's power and reaffirm Congress' constitutional authority. Senators on both sides of the aisle are divided on whether they believe they have sole authority to authorize a strike against Iran or if Trump can do so on his own volition. A predominant argument is that the entire point of supporting Israel is to prevent the Islamic Republic from creating or acquiring a nuclear weapon. Israel has been successful in taking out a few pieces of infrastructure that were key to that mission but has yet to do real damage to the highly-fortified Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant and would likely need help from the U.S. to crack through the layers of rock shielding the site. "The Constitution says the prerogative to declare war, the power to declare war, is solely from the Congress," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, told Fox News Digital. "It can't originate from the White House. There is no constitutional authority for the president to bomb anyone without asking permission first." The Constitution divides war powers between Congress and the White House, giving lawmakers the sole power to declare war, while the president acts as the commander in chief directing the military. Then came the War Powers Act of 1973, which sought to further define those roles and ensure that the president has to give Congress notice within 48 hours of the deployment of troops who can only be deployed for 60 days. Notably, Congress has not formally declared war since World War II. "There's really no argument for why he couldn't obey the Constitution," Paul said. "Now, my hope is that he won't do it, his instincts for restraint would prevail." Fox News reached out to the White House for comment. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., disagreed with Paul and said he believed Trump had the ability to authorize a strike but acknowledged it was "mixed" and "clouded" when factoring in the War Powers Act. "It's clear that both Congress and the president have a role to play," he said. "But if you're suggesting, should the president come to Congress first making that decision, it's conditioned upon what year you want Congress to make a decision. Sometimes it takes us months, even years, to get nothing done." Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters he believed Trump was "perfectly in his right to do what he's done so far" and reiterated that the ultimate goal was to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. Senate Republicans have found an unlikely ally among Democrats in Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has vehemently advocated for Israel while his party has wavered. Fetterman told Fox News Digital he did not believe a strike on Iran was "starting a war," echoing Thune's sentiment that "we have a very specific mission to destroy the nuclear facilities. That's not a war. That is a necessary military … exercise to destroy a nuclear facility." And Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital "it's never been ruled" whether the War Powers Act was constitutional, but he noted that the act still gave the president the authority to act as commander in chief. "I think it's pretty much an irrelevant point if President Trump decides to aid Israel with some military action with those bunker-busting bombs," Johnson said. "It's well within the timeframe of him coming under some kind of congressional action." Still, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who introduced his war powers resolution Monday, believed the measure was gaining momentum among his colleagues. Kaine told Fox News Digital that, as events have developed, it made the "urgency" of his resolution more apparent. He also expected it would get a vote in the Senate sometime next week. He argued that some Republicans would "very much want to be in the middle of hostilities with Iran." "But the interesting thing is, they've never introduced a war authorization because their constituents would say, 'Are you nuts?'" he said. "And, so, they would like the president to do it, but they wouldn't want to do it themselves." When asked if that was a move to shift blame elsewhere, Kaine said, "They think it will, but it won't."
New York Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Lawmakers Revive War Powers Debate as Trump Threatens Iran
President Trump's escalating threats against Iran and public flirtation with joining Israel's bombing campaign against the country have reawakened a long-dormant debate on Capitol Hill about clawing back Congress's power to declare war. In the House, a Democrat and a Republican teamed up on Tuesday to introduce a resolution that would require congressional approval before U.S. troops could engage in offensive attacks against Iran. The measure by Representatives Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, and Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, underscored a view held by many in Congress that Mr. Trump should not be able to decide on his own whether the United States wades deeper into the conflict. Thirteen additional Democrats signed on to the resolution, but no Republicans so far were supporting the effort. Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, on Monday introduced a similar resolution. Both efforts face long odds on Capitol Hill given Republicans' reluctance to challenge Mr. Trump's power, but with some lawmakers in both parties openly resisting further U.S. involvement, they are likely to prompt a vibrant debate. The measures enjoy a special status that will compel Congress to vote on them one way or the other in the coming days. Still, Speaker Mike Johnson has, so far, been successful in deflecting efforts to force Republican members to take any vote that would require them to challenge Mr. Trump's authority, and he could seek a procedural solution that would allow him to circumvent a vote on a war declaration. The move in the House quickly drew detractors, including Representative Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, who posted on social media that 'If AOC and Massie are a yes, that's a good bet that I'll be a no.' He was referring to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who was among the Democrats backing the measure. And in the Senate, defense hawks cheered Mr. Trump's bellicose posture. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, on Tuesday reiterated his stance that he supports U.S. involvement in the conflict against Iran. 'Yeah, I want us to go all in to help Israel destroy their nuclear programs,' he said, adding that he had spoken to Mr. Trump Monday evening about his views. When asked what role Congress should have in authorizing offensive strikes in Iran, Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican of Ohio, deferred to Mr. Trump. 'I have total faith and confidence in the president of the United States,' he said in an interview on Tuesday.
Reuters
7 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
US senator moves to limit Trump's war powers on Iran, as Mideast conflict escalates
WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) - A Democratic senator introduced legislation on Monday to prevent U.S. President Donald Trump from using military force against Iran without Congress's authorization, as an escalating battle between Israel and Iran raised fears of broader conflict. Tim Kaine of Virginia has tried for years to wrest back Congress's authority to declare war from the White House. During Trump's first term, in 2020, Kaine introduced a similar resolution to rein in Trump's ability to wage war against Iran. That measure passed both the Senate and House of Representatives, winning some Republican support, but did not garner enough votes to survive the Republican president's veto. Kaine said his latest war powers resolution underscores that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the sole power to declare war and requires that any hostility with Iran be explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for the use of military force. "It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States. I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict," Kaine said in a statement. Under U.S. law, war powers resolutions are privileged, meaning that the Senate will be required to promptly consider and vote on the matter. Israel's military launched attacks on Iran on Friday with the stated aim of wiping out Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Iran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, responded with missile attacks on Israel. Both countries have kept up their attacks, killing and wounding civilians and raising concern among world leaders meeting in Canada this week that the biggest battle between the two old enemies could lead to a broader regional conflict. Trump has lauded Israel's offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the U.S. has taken part and warning Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include U.S. targets. Before leaving for the summit in Canada on Sunday, Trump was asked what he was doing to de-escalate the situation. "I hope there's going to be a deal. I think it's time for a deal," he told reporters. "Sometimes they have to fight it out."
