Democratic lawmakers pushed legislation in both chambers of Congress last week with the aim of limiting President Donald Trump's war powers — something they sought in his first term and began gunning for again ahead of his second inauguration.
This campaign, spearheaded in the House by Republican Thomas Massie (Ky.) and in the Senate by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), picked up steam in the wake of Israel's June 12 military strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure and amid suggestions by the likes of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that America's direct involvement in the conflict was a foregone conclusion.
Although greatly strained by a continued exchange of explosives, the ceasefire between Iran and Israel that Trump announced on Monday and repaired Tuesday morning appears to have sapped much of the energy from lawmakers' war power delimitation campaign.
After all, it appears that Trump's controversial bombings — the kind that Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Chuy Garcia (Ill.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) don't think the president should be able to order — did not pave America's way into another protracted Middle Eastern entanglement but rather paved the way to an exit for all parties involved.
In other words, campaigners must now convince their peers that Trump must be deprived of the powers he just used for a back-burn that spared Israel and its neighbors from a greater conflagration.
Massie noted several hours before Trump announced the ceasefire that his war powers resolution to prohibit America's involvement in Iran had 57 co-sponsors.
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"Whether you like it or not Congress will be voting on U.S. hostilities in Iran," tweeted Massie. "Under the War Powers Act, the President is required to withdraw from hostilities in Iran within 60 days (+30 days ext.) unless he gets a vote of Congress."
The congressman changed his tune Monday evening, telling reporters, "I talked to the speaker on the floor just now and told him we wouldn't push [the measure] if the ceasefire holds, so it's really in their court," reported Politico.
'I still think we need to do it.'
Regardless of whether the ceasefire holds, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made clear that the measure had no chance of survival, adding that Massie should "do right by the country and do right by the Republican team here" by dropping the measure.
Democrats, meanwhile, indicated that they still want to hold the doomed vote on the basis of hypotheticals and with the aim of virtue-signaling.
"We may ... have a conflict in the future, and we need to be on record saying no offensive war in Iran without prior authorization," Khanna told Axios.
Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.) said, "I still think we need to do it."
"This is a serious matter. Congress ought to debate this," McGovern told Axios. "I complained about when Obama took action without congressional authorization; I complained when Biden did as well."
With Massie's initiative now virtually dead, New York Rep. Greg Meeks (D) is reportedly preparing to introduce his own war powers resolution, which looks to be an exercise in futility, given the "hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran" he seeks to end are apparently already finished.
'I acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.'
Over in the Senate, the delimitation campaign similarly shows signs of stalling.
Kaine has delayed scheduling a vote on his resolution until he and his colleagues receive a classified briefing Tuesday afternoon on the conflict. Even if the vote proceeds, it's unlikely to go anywhere.
Blaze News senior politics editor Christopher Bedford noted that "most senators hate hard votes, war is a hard vote, and most of them like a belligerent foreign policy. So there's not really any serious, broad will in the Senate to retake war powers. It would take a whole lot more than this to change that."
Contrary to his critics' framing, Trump insists that he had the right to order the the strikes on the Iranian nuclear sites.
"I directed this military action consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad as well as in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests," he noted in a Monday letter to House Speaker Johnson. "I acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive and pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations."
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President Donald Trump announced Monday evening that Iran and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire, bringing an end to what was fast becoming another bloody Middle Eastern quagmire. Trump indicated that Iran would begin the ceasefire and that 12 hours later, Israel would follow suit.
Unfortunately, there have been multiple violations by both parties in the hours since, resulting in many casualties. The continued exchange of bombs and missiles prompted a full-throated rebuke from Trump Tuesday morning.
'ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS.'
When asked whether the ceasefire was breaking down, Trump — who just hours earlier had written, "This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn't, and never will" — told reporters that Iran apparently fired a rocket "after the time limit and it missed its target, and now Israel is going out. These guys gotta calm down. It's ridiculous."
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi indicated on X that Iran's military operations against Israel "continued until the very last minute, at 4am."
Earlier Tuesday morning, the chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces promised to "respond with force" to a "severe violation of the ceasefire carried out by the Iranian regime."
Trump leaned into his critique, noting, "I didn't like the fact that Israel unloaded right after we made the deal. They didn't have to unload. And I didn't like the fact that the retaliation was very strong — but in all fairness, Israel unloaded a lot."
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Just prior to the ceasefire taking effect, Israeli strikes allegedly killed nine people in Northern Iran and at least five people were killed by Iranian strikes in the Israeli city of Beersheba, reported NBC News.
While critical of Iran, Trump appeared especially frustrated with Israel, noting, "When I say, 'OK, now you have 12 hours,' you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran, either. But I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning."
Trump appeared unable to contain his anger over the breakdown of the possible peace he ordered, stating, "We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f**k they're doing."
The president subsequently issued Israel a directive on Truth Social, writing, "ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!"
Twenty minutes later — around the time he reportedly had a no-nonsense phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — Trump indicated that Israel was not going to attack Iran and that all planes would be turning around "while doing a friendly 'Plane Wave' to Iran."
"The Ceasefire is in effect!" added Trump.
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There are several areas where Trump and his team can improve to confront an increasingly aggressive Red China.
We were awakened by sirens at 3:00 a.m. This was a warning from the Israeli government to get ready for retaliation. And Iran did retaliate.
The bombings are a powerful deterrent to the 'CRINK' alliance; talk of America’s decline is merely wishful thinking; and leadership matters.
‘This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn't, and never will!’ Trump declared.
If you're going to let your vague memory of a Sunday school slogan guide your foreign policy aims, make sure what you learned was correct.
Escalating our war with Iran by pursuing regime change and nation-building would be a colossal mistake.
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