- Martial Law gives Trump 60 days to stop fighting or come to Congress.
- Resolution aimed to restore Congress’ war authorization role.
- House passes measure certifying Iran as top state sponsor of terrorism.
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives on Thursday rejected an attempt to stop President Donald Trump’s air war against Iran and require any hostilities against Iran to be authorized by Congress, bolstering the Republican president’s military campaign in the sixth day of the widening conflict.
The vote was 219 to 212, largely along party lines, in the House, where Trump’s Republicans control a narrow majority of seats. Two Republicans voted in favor of the resolution and four Democrats voted against.
Opponents accused Democrats of only taking the issue to a vote because they oppose Trump, putting Americans at increased risk.
“We all know we wouldn’t be here today if the president’s name wasn’t Donald Trump,” Representative Rick Crawford of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said during a debate Wednesday.
Sponsors of the resolution described it as an attempt to take back Congress’ responsibility for authorizing war as outlined in the US Constitution.
The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, a conflict that has killed more than 1,000 people, including at least six American servicemen, and caused damage and instability across the Middle East.
Supporters said the resolution, by requiring Trump to come to Congress for a war authorization, would force him to explain to Americans why the United States is fighting and how it might end.
“This is a war of choice, launched by this administration without authorization, without clearly stated goals or a defined end game, and without explaining how they intend to keep Americans safe,” said Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Approval would not have stopped Iran’s air war
Just before the resolution vote, House members from both parties overwhelmingly passed a measure “Reaffirming that Iran remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
The vote would not have stopped the conflict even if Parliament had voted yes.
To take effect, the resolution would also have had to pass the Senate and achieve the two-thirds majority needed to override Trump’s expected veto.
The Senate, also narrowly controlled by Trump’s party, supported his military campaign against Iran in a vote on Wednesday, voting to block a bipartisan resolution similar to the measure passed by the House. The votes this week are not the end of the matter. The War Powers Resolution of 1973, which allows for votes on the resolutions, says a president can involve the military in an armed conflict only when Congress has declared war or given specific authority or in response to an attack.
Trump and his fellow Republicans have argued that Iran posed an “imminent threat” so his actions were legal under that law.
However, the war powers measure also requires unauthorized military actions to end within 60 days, giving the Trump administration a deadline of late April to seek congressional approval.
