Democrats' War Powers Resolution fails in Senate

Senate Rejects Measure Aimed at Blocking Trump’s Iran War Operation

The war powers resolution failed to advance in the Senate. The House will vote on a similar measure today.

A resolution to require President Trump to seek congressional approval for any further action in Iran failed to advance in the Senate, five days after the U.S. and Israel launched a military campaign against the Iranian regime.

The vote was 47-53, largely along party lines. If passed, the resolution would have blocked further U.S. military action in Iran without congressional approval under the 1973 War Powers Act.

That legislation passed during the Vietnam War to give Congress a legal check on executive war authority. The 1973 act also requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying U.S. forces into hostilities and to end the deployment within 60 days unless Congress authorizes or extends it.

President Trump did notify Congress and the Senate via the Gang of Eight within the 48 hours rule.

Specifically, the Gang of Eight includes the leaders of each of the two parties from both the Senate and House of Representatives, and the chairs and ranking minority members of both the Senate Committee and House Committee for intelligence as set forth by 50 U.S.C. § 3093(c)(2).

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