House Again Votes Down Iran War Powers Resolution

Democrats are not done forcing votes on the increasingly unpopular war with Iran in the House and Senate, despite losing again in the lower chamber on Thursday.In a tie vote, the House declined to pass a War Powers Act resolution that could have forced the Trump administration to seek permission for the use of military force. Republicans have been feeling better about their chances in the midterms now that the redistricting war and the Callais decision have given them more of a cushion in their efforts to retain their House majority. The cost of living — exacerbated by the war — still hangs over their heads, however. By a vote of 212 to 212 on Thursday, the House failed to pass a resolution authored by Congressman Josh Gottheimer. Although the New Jersey Democrat celebrated the initial rounds of strikes in February that left the Ayatollah dead, he now says the administration cannot continue to act without permission from the legislative branch. “This war has been a mistake from the start,” the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Greg Meeks of New York, said on the floor before the war powers vote. “What do the American people want? Do you know what they want? They want affordability crises addressed.”In total, 209 Democrats voted for the resolution along with three Republicans. Congressman Thomas Massie, the anti-war libertarian from Kentucky, and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a swing district in the suburbs north of Philadelphia, were two of the Republicans voting yes. The third, Congressman Tom Barrett of Michigan, who served for more than two decades in the Army, has introduced a resolution to lay out exactly what the president should be able to do in Iran. “This effort that I’ve introduced allows the president through the end of July to defeat or degrade significantly the Iranian ability to develop a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Barrett told CNN’s “The Lead” on Wednesday. “But it very clearly does not allow for nation-building, the use of ground troops — except to do rescue missions and things of that sort — but it lays clear guardrails in place and has an end date in mind.”The only Democrat to vote against the resolution, Congressman Jared Golden of Maine, has voted to block all previous War Powers Act resolutions pertaining to the hostilities in Iran because he believes that tying the president’s hands could weaken his leverage in negotiations. On Thursday, he voted against Mr. Gottheimer’s resolution, though he does support a different “clean” resolution — this one from Mr. Meeks — which has not yet come to the floor. Additional War Powers resolutions are expected to be put up for votes in the coming weeks, with one being introduced by Congresswoman Valerie Foushee of North Carolina. In the Senate, supporters of a War Powers resolution came within one vote of passing the measure on Wednesday. Moderate Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski joined two other Republicans — Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Kentucky and Maine, respectively — in bucking party leadership to support of the resolution. “We have now surpassed the 60-day limit for hostilities without congressional authorization, and the administration has asserted that hostilities have ended,” Ms. Murkowski said in a statement. “The administration’s own position removes any justification for keeping our servicemembers in harm’s way without congressional authorization,” she argued.“If U.S. forces are still required to operate in the region or hostilities are resumed, the administration is obligated to seek authorization from Congress and should come before this body, and the American people, making that case,” she continued.

House Again Votes Down Iran War Powers Resolution

House Again Votes Down Iran War Powers Resolution

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