Senate Democrats are threatening to force repeated votes on President Donald Trump’s war with Iran unless Republicans agree to hold committee hearings about the ongoing war, according to details shared first with Semafor.
Six Senate Democrats are joining in the push for public hearings on the Iran conflict, saying they are tired of closed-door briefings that don’t inform the US public. The Democrats are also seeking an investigation and airing outrage over the bombing of an Iranian school, which reportedly killed scores of children.
The Democrats plan to tell Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday afternoon that unless he greenlights committee hearings on the war, “they will use the tools of the Senate to hold this public debate and a series of votes on the administration’s war powers on the floor of the Senate,” according to an aide briefed on the plan.
Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Adam Schiff of California, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut introduced the resolutions last week. They will be ready for floor action in the coming days and weeks.
“Now is the time for Democrats to use all the leverage we have to try to stop this unnecessary war,” those five senators and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said in a statement for this story.
“Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio must immediately come before Congress for a public hearing and explain why we’re in this war, how it will end, and why they are prioritizing billions of dollars on an open-ended war instead of lowering costs for American families.”