Democratic senators have introduced a wave of new war powers resolutions while calling on Republicans to call public hearings on US hostilities with Iran or be forced to vote on continuing a conflict that polls show most Americans do not support.
Late last week, Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Adam Schiff of California, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Chris Murphy of Connecticut introduced resolutions under the War Powers Act that would force the U.S. military to withdraw from the war with Iran unless Congress votes to authorize engagement.
The GOP-controlled Senate and House blocked similar resolutions last week, largely along partisan lines, when Republican leaders argued that Donald Trump was acting within his authority when the United States attacked Iran alongside Israel in late February.
Aides to Democratic senators say the goal of these latest resolutions is to pressure Senate Majority Leader John Thune to hold public hearings with Cabinet secretaries involved in the war effort, or the chamber will be forced to debate and vote on the resolutions in the coming weeks.
“Have we learned nothing from the last 25 years of war in the Middle East? Americans do not want their taxpayer dollars funding another possible forever war while they bear the crushing weight of Republican price increases and health care cuts at home,” the senators said in a joint statement.
“Now is the time for Democrats to use all the influence we have to try to stop this unnecessary war. (Secretary of Defense) Pete Hegseth and (Secretary of State) Marco Rubio must immediately appear before Congress for a public hearing and explain why we are in this war, how it will end and why they are prioritizing billions of dollars in an open-ended war instead of reducing costs for American families.”
While Hegseth, Rubio and other Trump administration officials have briefed lawmakers since the war began, they have done so behind closed doors, and Democrats who attended have complained that not all of their questions were answered. On Tuesday, lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee will receive a briefing on the military operation called Epic Fury, which the US military is conducting alongside Israel.
Recent polls have found that the war is unpopular with the public. An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released last Friday found that 56% of all respondents disapproved of the war, with 86% of Democrats and 61% of independents in opposition. However, according to the poll, 84% of Republicans approve of the war. The conflict has also caused disruptions in global oil markets that have caused gasoline prices to rise, giving Democrats ammunition to defend their argument that Trump has failed to deliver on his campaign promise to cut costs.
“It’s like Marie Antoinette is leading America into war. She has no idea what it’s like to struggle to pay for gas, rent, groceries,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech Monday.
The Democrat backed his colleagues’ push to hold public hearings, saying: “Donald Trump and his administration owe the American people an explanation. Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth and other top officials must come to the Senate for public hearings and testify under oath why our troops are once again fighting and dying in the Middle East.”
The Democratic senators’ resolutions were introduced last Thursday and Friday and may be called for a vote within 10 days.
These measures can be approved with a simple majority in the Senate, where the Republican Party has 53 seats and the Democrats 47.
When the House voted last week on the war powers resolution, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to oppose it, while Kentucky’s Rand Paul was the only Republican to support it.
