{"id":506452,"date":"2026-03-01T02:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/506452\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T02:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:15:13","slug":"congress-to-vote-on-trumps-war-powers-in-aftermath-of-iran-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/506452\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress to vote on Trump\u2019s war powers in aftermath of Iran strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Top Capitol Hill Democrats, and a small number of Republicans, watched in alarm Saturday as the US launched a major assault on Iran<\/a>, decrying President Donald Trump\u2019s call for the overthrow of another foreign government without their expressed approval.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump ordered the strikes on Tehran just days before the GOP-led House and Senate are each set to formally debate and vote on US military action in Iran. Democrats, along with at least three Republicans, say the president\u2019s decision, with lawmakers scattered across the nation and not planning to return to Washington for days, raises serious questions about the legality of the attack<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a slap in the face of the United States Congress. The president has launched an illegal war when there is no imminent threat. He did not consult with Congress or allow for a debate in Congress, which even George W. Bush did,\u201d Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California told CNN on Saturday morning.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, House and Senate Democratic leaders \u2014 as well as the famously anti-interventionist Republican Rep. Thomas Massie \u2014 are demanding that GOP leaders bring Congress back into session immediately to hold a formal vote on the unfolding conflict in Iran.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI am opposed to this War. This is not \u2018America First,\u2019\u201d said Massie of Kentucky.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Constitution conferred the power to declare or initiate war to Congress for a reason, to make war less likely,\u201d Sen. Rand Paul, a leading Republican in the Senate effort to curb Trump\u2019s war authority, similarly declared, adding that his \u201coath of office is to the Constitution, so with studied care, I must oppose another Presidential war.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Rep.<\/p>\n

\n Those votes to require congressional approval for military action against Iran, which were already set for midweek, will amount to a major test of loyalty for some of the GOP\u2019s far-right flank, who have for years championed Trump\u2019s promise of keeping America out of foreign wars. Those Republicans will be forced to take a public stance after months of simmering consternation over Trump\u2019s legal authority as he has dramatically expanded powers abroad with Congress on the sidelines.\n <\/p>\n

\n Multiple GOP sources told CNN they believe those three Republicans \u2014 Massie, Paul and Rep. Warren Davidson, who has also publicly condemned the attack without authorization \u2014 are likely on an island in their own party. Even so, Democrats believe it might be enough to deliver the rebukes.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI do think this has a real chance of passing. And it\u2019s going to be seen like the Iraq war vote,\u201d Khanna added, referring to the historic 2002 vote in Congress that authorized the US invasion of Iraq.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even if the measure passes, it is subject to a presidential veto, and a two-thirds vote to override could be a challenge to reach. So while it would be unlikely to change the president\u2019s actions, it would be seen as a stunning rebuke of the administration.\n <\/p>\n

\n One Republican, speaking to the CNN on the condition of anonymity because they had received classified briefings on the operation, fiercely disputed that Trump was leading the nation into another conflict akin to the Iraq War. The person believed there was wide support in the party for the president\u2019s actions.\n <\/p>\n

\n Indeed, dozens of Republicans were quick to praise Trump\u2019s actions on Saturday morning, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune. But there have been signs of cracks in the GOP in recent days amid rumblings of an Iran assault.\n <\/p>\n

\n One ultraconservative Republican, Davidson of Ohio, already telegraphed that he planned to support the Democratic-led bill that would have formally ordered Trump to make the case to Congress for any military actions in Iran, in a major affront to the White House.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNo. War requires Congressional authorization,\u201d Davidson, a former Army Ranger who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Saturday<\/a>, unequivocally stating he did not support the president\u2019s action in Iran.\n <\/p>\n

\"Rep.<\/p>\n

\n The attack is sure to compound months of simmering frustration among many top lawmakers about the White House\u2019s lack of information-sharing related to operations from Iran to Venezuela. The full Congress has not received a briefing related to Iran, though Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe did deliver a classified update to the \u201cGang of Eight\u201d earlier this week.\n <\/p>\n

\n And while Rubio notified all reachable members of the Gang of Eight congressional leaders in advance of the overnight strikes, those top lawmakers were not given a full accounting of the legal justification, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n As they publicly condemned Trump on Saturday for having overstepped his authority, Democratic leaders had already been quietly working with Massie to convince lawmakers to deliver an official rebuke to the White House.\n <\/p>\n

\n But as with previous attempts to constrain the Trump administration from Capitol Hill, the minority party faced significant headwinds. At least three pro-Israel Democrats were opposed to such a measure, according to multiple people familiar with the plans.\n <\/p>\n

\n It remained unclear whether those Democrats would now approach the vote differently, two people said. House Democrats will hold a caucus call on Sunday evening to discuss the party\u2019s response to the attack, another Democratic source said.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Even Republicans who support Trump\u2019s push for regime change have said Congress needs to have more input \u2014 and particularly more briefings.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sen. Thom Tillis, a retiring Republican from North Carolina, said Trump \u201crightfully determined that this theocratic dictatorship cannot be allowed.\u201d But he was also clear that he expected the White House to be forthcoming about the operation\u2019s details.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI expect all members of Congress will soon be briefed about Operation Epic Fury and determine whether a broader scope and further military action requires an authorization by Congress,\u201d Tillis said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Just ahead of the attack, another retiring centrist, GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, told CNN he was eager for more talks with the White House.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019d like to have a dialogue. The president, early on, talked about regime change. Now he\u2019s focusing on nuclear. I don\u2019t think you\u2019re ever going to get a nuclear-safe environment with this regime. So in the end, this regime cannot stand. It killed about 2,000 Americans so I don\u2019t have any concerns with that,\u201d Bacon, who spent nearly 30 years in the Air Force, said earlier this week.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want boots on the ground, but we should bomb the crap out of them,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top Capitol Hill Democrats, and a small number of Republicans, watched in alarm Saturday as the US launched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-506452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}