Senate rejects bid to force Trump to get Congress' approval for future 'hostilities' against Iran

The Senate voted Friday evening to kill a war powers resolution that would have forced President Trump to seek congressional approval before launching further military offensives against Iran.

The failed 47-53 vote comes nearly a week after the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities, offensive strikes some lawmakers argued should have been approved first by Congress. It was the only direct U.S. intervention in a 12-day war between Israel and Iran that ended with a ceasefire agreement Mr. Trump and his team helped broker.

The resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, directs the president to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces for “hostilities” against Iran unless explicitly authorized by a congressional declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran. It includes a caveat allowing the U.S. to defend itself from “imminent attack.”

Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the sole power to declare war. The War Powers Act, enacted in 1973 in reaction to the Vietnam War, requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying troops and mandates their removal after 60 days unless Congress authorizes the action.

Lawmakers have long been split on how much power they have under Article I and the War Powers Act to force a president to seek congressional approval for limited, targeted strikes like the June 21 bombings, given that such actions could lead to escalations and war.

Senate Republicans, all but one of whom, opposed the war powers resolution, argued Mr. Trump had the necessary authority under Article II of the Constitution to strike Iran, and they wouldn’t want to hamstring him from taking similar action in the future.

“National security moves fast,” Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming said. “That is why our Constitution gives the commander-in-chief real authority. President Trump seized the moment – responsibly, constitutionally, and decisively. America and our allies are safer today because of it.”

Mr. Kaine introduced his war powers resolution before last weekend’s strikes to stop Mr. Trump from taking such action unilaterally. He said the measure is still important because the president, any president, still needs to come to Congress to go to war. 

“If we’re going to send troops into harm’s way, our sons and daughters – whether they’re flying bombing missions or ground troops or covert operations – we ought to have the guts in this body to cast a vote saying that that war is necessary, not just act as cheerleaders and hide from culpability,” he said. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said only Congress can put the U.S. in a legal state of war, but that doesn’t mean the president can’t take any military action without the legislature’s approval. 

“Just think the chaos that would ensue in this country if there were not one commander in chief, but 535 and we had to sit down and talk among ourselves and debate as to whether or not we should go forward with military operations like this,” he said. “That would paralyze this country.”

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to support the measure, arguing that Congress needs to preserve its right to declare war on Iran should Tehran abandon the ceasefire deal and engage in retaliatory strikes on the some 40,000 U.S. troops scattered throughout the Middle East.

“The American people are sick and tired of sending their children to fight and die in war zones on the other side of the world with no tangible U.S. interests at stake,” he said. “Abdicating our constitutional responsibility by allowing the executive branch to unilaterally introduce U.S. troops into wars is an affront to the Constitution and the American people.”

Mr. Paul said the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were a “tactical success” but could prove to be a strategic failure if Iran decides to double down on its efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“The lesson Tehran and other unstable regimes around the world may learn is that the only way to deter a strike is to maintain a nuclear deterrent,” he said. “Pandora’s Box has been opened, and the consequences remain to be seen.”

Mr. Trump said in a press conference Friday that he doesn’t think Iran will build its nuclear program back up “anytime soon” but that the U.S. would “without question, absolutely” strike Iran again if Tehran restarts its enrichment of uranium to a weapons-grade level.

The only Democrat to oppose the war powers was Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.

“I would never want to restrict any future president, Republican or Democrat, to do this kind of a military exercise that was very successful,” he said.

• Mallory Wilscon contributed to this report.