House Democrats on Thursday tried to rein in the Trump administration’s unauthorized Iran war while the House is on their two-week Easter break.
A group of House Democrats — including Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), James Walkinshaw (D-VA), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), and Emily Randall (D-WA) — attended the House’s pro forma session Thursday morning in an attempt to pass a war powers resolution with unanimous consent.
The effort failed when the member presiding over the session as speaker pro tempore, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), ignored House Democrats’ efforts, effectively blocking them from even bringing up the resolution.
The presiding chair gaveled in around 11:30 a.m. followed by the opening prayer, approval of the journal and the pledge of allegiance. Then, Smith immediately gaveled out, declaring the House adjourned around 11:34 a.m. without recognizing the Democrats as they yelled.
“The constitution is very clear that the power to declare war rests with the Congress of the United States,” Beyer told reporters at the House steps following the pro forma session. “That’s what we tried to do this morning. The pro forma speaker ignored us, which is a tragedy, but we will keep fighting.”
The effort to pass the war powers resolution with unanimous consent was largely symbolic as — even if the chair recognized Democrats — it would have been enough for even one Republican member to object to it to stop it from passing on the House floor.
The Democratic push to bring up the war powers resolution while the House is on a two-week Easter recess comes as President Donald Trump makes statements around the Iran war, which Congress has not authorized, that have alarmed even some of his own political allies.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday as he demanded Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s violent Easter Sunday threat to destroy the country prompted Americans of all political stripes to urge the representatives to intervene and stop the president, said Scanlon.
“We have attempted to do that today,” Scanlon told reporters of the blocked effort. “We urge our Republican colleagues to grow a spine. Have the courage to do the right thing.”
Senate Democrats are also planning to bring up their own war powers resolution in the upper chamber next week.
“This will be the FOURTH time we’ve forced a War Powers vote,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a social media post. “This time, after threats from @POTUS to extinguish an entire civilization, Republicans must join us in voting to end this war once and for all. Our country is worse off because of Trump’s strategic ineptitude. Enough is enough. Pass the War Powers Resolution, end the war.”
Some Republicans have suggested openly they would expect to vote on a war powers resolution if the war lasts longer than the 60-to-90-day window set in the Vietnam-era War Powers Resolution, which requires the president to obtain congressional approval for operations that continue beyond that time frame.
Democratic representatives continued their own campaign urging their Republican colleagues to vote to limit their president’s Middle East rampage. And Ivey highlighted Republican Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), who on Tuesday took to X to push back against Trump’s murderous rhetoric.
“[L]et me be clear: I do not support the destruction of a ‘whole civilization,’” Moran wrote. “That is not who we are, and it is not consistent with the principles that have long guided America.”
On Wednesday, the U.S., Israel, and Iran entered a two-week ceasefire, which Iran almost immediately claimed had been violated as Israel continued to bomb Lebanon. Even if the ceasefire holds and negotiations go forward, Jacobs, who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said during the Thursday press conference that Trump still needs to be held accountable for his unprecedented threats in recent days.
“Threatening genocide is not a negotiating tactic. It is important that even though we were able to get this ceasefire — which I pray holds — that we hold this President accountable for what he threatened,” Jacobs told reporters. “Because threatening genocide is not just against international law. It’s against our federal law too, and it is our job as Congress to stand up.”
