A Congress That Has Made Itself Irrelevant Plays Catch-Up as Trump Unilaterally Pushes U.S. into War

Congress’ hemorrhaging of power was stark Saturday morning, as many Americans woke up to the news that President Trump had initiated war with Iran without bothering to preemptively justify the violence, much less seek congressional authorization. 

Any hope that lawmakers would ride to the rescue, as Americans processed the news of Iranian children being killed at school, impending retaliatory strikes and the president’s promise of near-certain American casualties to come, was quickly dashed. 

Trump had already begun a war — nominally, Congress’ job — without any consent from the legislature. Congress’ primary recourse in response is to vote on a war powers resolution, which would, in theory, stop Trump from taking further military action without its approval. Votes are expected on Tuesday in the Senate and Thursday in the House — an almost offensively sluggish pace for a war begun over the weekend, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refuse to bring members back early. 

And by the time both chambers plod their way to voting on the resolutions, they may not pass anyway. Lawmakers have largely responded in accordance to their partisan loyalties, with Democrats — excepting Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Greg Landsman (D-OH) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) — opposing the violence, or at least demanding further information, while Republicans — sans Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) — are gung-ho. 

Some Democratic rank-and-file members have gone further than their leadership, who have been careful to hedge their opposition with statements heavy on “to be sure” sentiments about the villainy of the Iranian regime (much of which is now reportedly dead). 

“In America, we have no kings. One doddering, self-obsessed old man does not get to decide if we go to war,” tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Saturday. “The people — through a vote of Congress — decide. That’s what our Constitution says. It’s clear as day. And Congress should be called back into session this afternoon to immediately begin debate on legislation that would approve or deny the President’s illegal war against Iran.”

“The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said in a statement. “This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic.” 

Even if the resolutions do pass, it’d be virtually impossible to muster the two-thirds necessary to overcome Trump’s inevitable veto. So, at best, Congress could, perhaps, formally express its disapproval of the new war in a way that will get lawmakers on record, but not meaningfully constrain Trump at all. 

And Congress has been unable to meet even that measly benchmark during the second Trump term, largely on the strength of Republicans’ unwavering loyalty to the president. Attempts to pass resolutions amid Trump’s summer strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and the January kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro have all failed. 

Republicans have put in some elbow grease to ensure that the symbolic resolutions don’t pass: They forced Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), known to eschew his congressional duties in favor of hitting the campaign trail for his Senate bid, to rush from the airport and doom the vote after Maduro’s capture. And Trump threatened to end the careers of the Senate Republicans who had advanced the resolution, successfully frightening Sens. Todd Young (R-AK) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) into compliance. 

Without the war powers resolution, Congress could potentially find creative ways to cut off funding for the war — another long shot, given Republicans’ predilection for obeying the president, and Trump’s predilection for ignoring any legislative constraints on his actions. Lawmakers have weakened their own power in these standoffs, for years abdicating their authority on wars and foreign conflicts to the ever-more powerful White House.