How the War Powers Act Could Pressure Trump to End the Iran War
A decades-old law allows the president to wage war without congressional approval for 60 days, then limits his options for continuing. President Trump may seek to get around it.
A decades-old law allows the president to wage war without congressional approval for 60 days, then limits his options for continuing. President Trump may seek to get around it.
The G.O.P. narrowly blocked a Democratic war powers resolution, but a senior Republican suggested that backing for the conflict is not open-ended and could wane as a statutory deadline approaches in weeks.
For the fourth time since the war began, G.O.P. senators successfully fended off an effort to constrain the president. But there were signs of growing unease among Republicans.
In a week in which President Trump has veered from threatening to wipe out Iranian civilization to declaring a cease-fire, Congress is out of session and lawmakers with the power to declare war are mostly in the dark.
Senator Ron Johnson said he hoped President Trump was making empty threats, but most in the G.O.P. cheered his warning that Iran’s “whole civilization” would be wiped out.
As the White House prepares to release its 2027 budget, President Trump said military protection, not social programs, took precedence.
After resisting calls for public hearings for weeks, House Republicans have called the secretary of defense to testify at a budget hearing in late April for the first time since the attacks on Iran began.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is drafting a formal authorization for the use of military force in Iran, seeking to put some parameters around the operation as the Trump administration has boxed out Congress.
G.O.P. lawmakers who have given the Trump administration wide latitude to wage war with no congressional input are growing frustrated as officials offer little detail about ground troops, cost or timeline.
G.O.P. lawmakers who have given the Trump administration wide latitude to wage war with no congressional input are growing frustrated as officials offer little detail about ground troops, cost or timeline.