House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has been stridently against efforts by House Democrats and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to place any constraints on President Trump and his ongoing military assault in Iran since the president first declared his war intentions over the weekend. Johnson claims that the U.S.’s actions thus far have been defensive, despite the fact that the Trump administration has taken out Iran’s regime leadership and provided no clear evidence of an imminent threat to the continental United States.
Reps. Massie and Ro Khanna (D-CA) will force a vote on a war powers resolution on Thursday, in an attempt to rein in Trump. Like a similar resolution in the Senate on Wednesday, most Republicans are expected to vote against it, except Massie and potentially one other Republican. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to support a resolution in the Senate.
House Republicans are also using Trump’s war in Iran to try to spin the narrative and pressure Democrats to help end the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown. Democrats have been demanding reforms to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the wake of two recent killings of U.S. citizens by ICE agents.
As Republicans try to bully the Dems into funding the agencies under the DHS umbrella without any reforms — claiming it is dangerous and irresponsible to leave them unfunded during a time of elevated threats at home — the House voted on the largely unchanged DHS funding bill Wednesday afternoon. A final vote will take place Thursday afternoon.
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The whole idea of this retroactive war powers resolution is absurd. You either have the powers before you go to war or you don’t - if you don’t, it’s illegal. The congress doesn’t have to retroactively affirm that it would’ve gone along with what illegal shit you’re doing - it needs to declare war FIRST.
Unfortunately we’re getting the MAGA equivalent of Putin calling his war against Ukraine a special military operation. Mike Johnson called the war a “Defensive Operation”. Hilariously, though, Markwayne Mullin is incapable of not calling it a war, despite seemingly being one of the administration’s preferred spokesmen for the war.
I guess we got our Orwellian war with Eurasia.
“Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia”
We got a “Crusade” led by these fascist, authoritarian, religious cult, wackadoodles against something actually very similar.
I hope Democrats realize that the DHS goons have provided them a hill we expect them to climb or to die trying.
My wife told me last night that this November she intends to vote against every incumbent on her ballot regardless of party. I am not sure I blame her.
And the vote begins…..