House Dems. introduce bill to limit Trump's war powers on Iran
The brief two-page resolution introduced Monday directs Trump to remove the U.S. military "from hostilities" with Iran aside from those protecting the U.S. mainland, and prevents him from going to war against Iran without congressional authorization, as is required by the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
"President Trump must not be allowed to start a war with Iran, or any country, without Congressional approval," Reps. Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Monday in a joint statement.
On Saturday night, Trump directed the U.S. military to bomb three nuclear facilities in Iran. The bombing, followed by Trump making statements about regime change in Tehran, raised concerns that the United States would be entering into another war in the Middle East, and without congressional approval.
The resolution, however, was introduced just hours after Trump claimed Iran and Israel had agreed to a cease-fire.
The three Democratic lawmakers said that despite Trump's claims that the nuclear facilities were "obliterated," they still do not know whether the strikes eliminated Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities.
"The administration has offered no clear strategy," they said in support of their resolution.
"Without a coherent strategy for preventing Iran's program from bouncing back, including through diplomacy, we risk further escalation. No thoughtful deliberation nor careful planning occurred here -- and serious actions demand serious debate, not professional impulse."
The resolution is a competing motion to a bipartisan measure introduced last week by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro- Khanna, D-Calif.
The measures come as lawmakers, primarily Democrats, seek to restrain Trump's powers to prevent what they fear could be another Middle Eastern quagmire, just a few short years after the U.S. finally exited Afghanistan.
A dozen Democratic lawmakers who served in the U.S. armed forces issued a letter Monday voicing their support for a War Powers Act resolution, stating "we refuse to make those same mistakes."
"We can all agree that more debate was needed before Iraq and Afghanistan," they said in the joint letter. "We need to take the time to learn from our mistakes. We need to take the time to involve both the American people and Congress -- this is what our Founders intended, and that is what the Constitution requires."
The 12 lawmakers are Reps. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., Gil Cisneros, D-Calif., Herb Conaway, D-N.J., Chris Deluzio, D-Pa., Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., Bobby Scott, D-Va., Derek Tran, D-Calif., and Eugene Vindman, D-Va.
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