On Friday, the Senate blocked a resolution proposed by Democrats that would have forced President Trump to turn to Congress for approval to take further military action against Iran.
The vote against, 53-47, mostly along party lines, came nearly a week after the U.S. leader ordered the strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities without consulting the House and Senate.
The measure, sponsored by Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, was based on the War Powers Act, a 1973 law designed to limit a president’s power to intervene in an armed conflict without congressional consent. It would have required the White House to inform lawmakers and obtain approval from both the House and Senate before U.S. forces could take further military action against Tehran.
Kaine said that if the Senate voted in favor of his resolution, he would amend it to include a clause affirming the president’s authority to act in self-defense. In an attempt to unite Democrats around the issue, he clarified that the resolution did not limit U.S. support for Israel.
However, the resolution had little chance of success in a Republican-led Congress. “War is too big an issue to leave to the moods and the whims and the daily vibes of any one person,” Kaine said ahead of the vote.
For their part, Republican senators opposed the idea of limiting Trump’s authority and accused Democrats of only wanting to engage in yet another political battle, pointing out that only a few of them had openly opposed it when President Barack Obama launched attacks against Syria and other areas in the Middle East. “National security moves quickly. That’s why our Constitution says, ‘Give the commander in chief real authority,’” said GOP Senator John Barrasso.
In urging members to vote against the proposal, Barrasso said there was no need for consultation with Congress and that it would “prevent the president from protecting us in the future.”
During the vote, only one Democrat joined the majority of Republicans in opposing the war powers resolution, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. Only Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky voted in favor of the Democratic proposal.
