For the first time in three months, a handful of Republicans joined Democrats in the House of Representatives on Wednesday to pass a war powers resolution aimed at ending Washington’s military operations against Iran, defying President Donald Trump.
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This initiative aims to put an end to the conflict which has lasted for three months and which has reshuffled the cards of domestic and foreign policy.
The elected representatives of the House adopted the resolution by 215 votes to 208, but the outcome remains uncertain, Donald Trump will likely have to reject any measure from Congress which would limit his prerogatives as commander in chief.
Nevertheless: this result, obtained thanks to the rallying of four Republicans to the Democrats, constitutes a disavowal of the president’s war strategy, and applause broke out in the hemicycle.
“That’s enough”launched New York Representative Gregory Meeks, senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who led the initiative.
“It’s time for the president to do the right thing”he added. “People are tired of suffering because of his chosen war, of suffering at the pumps and of suffering in the supermarkets.”
Opposition to war grows
This is the House’s fourth attempt to rein in the U.S.-led war against Iran. House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to avoid a vote that would highlight growing opposition to the conflict by abruptly interrupting proceedings two weeks ago as the resolution was about to be adopted. But discontent has only grown as the conflict bogs down and Trump struggles to negotiate a peace plan.
The Senate advanced its own war powers resolution when a handful of Republican senators broke ranks with the president in a rare display of rebellion within his party.
Each time, however, as political unease with the US-led war has grown, the number of votes in favor of the war powers resolution has increased slightly.
Trump had campaigned for the White House on a promise to end America’s foreign commitments and focus more on domestic issues, but the war has once again turned the spotlight on the Middle East.
On Wednesday, Johnson assured that Trump remained “totally focused” on the domestic front, particularly as the midterm elections approach which will determine the majority in Congress.
The Speaker of the House said he spent three hours this week at the White House with the head of state, and that Trump is calling on allies to help him reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restore trade flows.
Since the United States joined Israel in launching strikes against Iran on February 28, the Americans have seen gasoline prices soar at the pump, accentuating inflationary pressures on consumption.
Iran has managed to disrupt maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage for much of the world’s oil, natural gas and by-products such as fertilizers.
Congress asserts its prerogatives in matters of war
The war powers resolution passed by the House would not immediately end the conflict, but it would constitute a symbolic, even legal, gesture against further military action.
The resolution now faces consideration by the Senate, where four Republican senators joined Democrats last month to advance a similar bill aimed at curbing the US campaign against Iran. The upper house has yet to make a final decision on whether to approve or reject its own resolution on war powers.
At the same time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Wednesday, during a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that the Iranians would believe that the “hands of the administration will be tied” if Congress approved a war powers resolution. They would say to each other, he explained: “We can’t do anything to them, so why make a deal?”
While the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, the president also has, as commander in chief, the ability to initiate military operations, fueling a legal debate over ultimate authority in matters of war and peace. If the Senate joins the House in passing the resolution, it could pave the way for a new legal standoff over the war powers.
The War Powers Act allows the White House sixty days to request authorization from Congress to use military force. However, the Trump administration claims that hostilities have ceased, with a ceasefire having been declared in the ongoing war with Iran.
