WASHINGTON ― The Senate on Friday rejected an effort to rein in President Donald Trump’s ability to wage war against Iran without explicit approval from Congress, as is required by the U.S. Constitution.
The failed 47-53 vote came just days after Trump ordered the unilateral bombing of Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, claiming the country’s long-running nuclear enrichment program is an imminent threat to U.S. national security despite the lack of evidence to that effect.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a leading advocate for congressional authority in matters of war powers, spearheaded the effort under the War Powers Act, which Congress passed in the wake of the Vietnam War. The resolution he introduced under the War Powers Act would have required that any hostilities with Iran must be explicitly authorized with a declaration of war by Congress.
“To go on offense against another nation or an entity… it is too big a decision for any one person,” Kaine said in a speech on the Senate floor. “We should only go to war after a debate in Congress.”
Republicans, meanwhile, overwhelmingly stood behind Trump’s decision to bomb Iran, even without congressional approval. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) argued that the president had all the authority he needed under Article II of the Constitution and that he couldn’t wait on Congress before ordering a strike against Iran.
“Leaders in Congress were aware of the urgency of this situation and the commander in chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act,” Johnson said earlier this week.
But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a lonely voice in his party advocating on behalf of Congress’ power over war, warned that the U.S. is repeating the failures of costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by allowing the president to unilaterally use military force. He joined Democrats in support of Kaine’s resolution.
Meanwhile, one Democrat ― John Fetterman of Pennsylvania ― voted with Republicans against the effort. The senator, a staunch supporter of Israel and its military strikes against Iran, cheered Trump’s decision, telling reporters he didn’t want to handcuff any president.
“I would never want to restrict any future president, Republican or Democrat, to do this kind of military exercise,” Fetterman said Thursday.
Congress voted in 2020 to limit Trump’s war powers in Iran after he ordered the decision to assassinate Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Lawmakers successfully also passed legislation in 2023 repealing the 1991 and 2002 authorizations of military force to formally end the Gulf and Iraq Wars.
Still, Friday’s vote in the Senate continues a broad trend in Congress of lawmakers choosing to delegate away their powers to the executive branch. For decades, and especially after the 2003 Iraq War, lawmakers under both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations have shied away from casting votes on matters of war that could come back to haunt them.
Instead, presidents of both parties have cited the broad 2001 authorization for military force that Congress passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks to justify counterterrorism and bombing operations in 22 countries and counting.
The efficacy of Trump’s strikes against Iran and how much of a setback they dealt to its nuclear program is also a matter of much debate. Trump’s administration maintains Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites were “completely and fully obliterated.” Intelligence reports on that question have varied, however, with some saying it has been delayed only by a matter of months to several years.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the strike appears to “have only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a handful of months.”
“There’s no doubt there was damage done to the program,” Murphy added, but “allegations that we have obliterated their program just don’t seem to stand up to reason.”
“I just do not think the president was telling the truth when he said this program was obliterated,” he added.
