energy markets<\/a> as fighting encroaches on the Strait of Hormuz and Americans face soaring gas prices.<\/p>\nThe Republican majorities have for the most part rallied behind President Trump, and have blocked measures in both the House and Senate that would have halted the war against Iran and forced him to seek congressional approval for additional hostilities.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) likened efforts to rein in Trump\u2019s war efforts to siding \u201cwith the enemy.\u201d Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was even more effusive, arguing there is a precedent for presidents using military force without congressional authority.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe norm in this country is not to declare war by Congress, but for the military to be used by the commander in chief. Sometimes authorization from the Congress is requested, sometimes it is not,\u201d Graham said during a Senate floor speech. \u201cMore than not, it is not requested.\u201d<\/p>\n
Presidents have frequently used military force without a formal declaration of war \u2014 including in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq \u2014 but experts argue there is a difference between bypassing a formal declaration and sidelining Congress altogether.<\/p>\n
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who served under President Obama, pointed to the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, as an example of how the process once worked.<\/p>\n
Even though it was a covert Special Forces operation, Panetta said, he personally briefed key congressional leaders before Bin Laden\u2019s killing took place. <\/p>\n
That kind of consultation, he said, no longer happens. Instead, lawmakers learn about military operations the same way ordinary Americans do \u2014 by watching the news \u2014 and then demand to be briefed, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy that time, the country is pretty much committed to war,\u201d Panetta said.<\/p>\n
Presidents of both parties have expanded their power to wage war unilaterally, but Panetta said he believes Trump has crossed a new threshold by dispensing not just with congressional approval but with the courtesy of a briefing. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not good for our democracy. It\u2019s not a good process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not what our forefathers would have wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubio, however, has argued the administration has kept congressional leaders apprised. He told reporters there is no legal requirement to notify all members of Congress and that he briefed the Gang of Eight \u2014 a group made up of the top Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate, as well as the leaders of the respective intelligence committees \u2014 within 48 hours of the attack against Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe notified congressional leadership,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cThe law says we have to notify them 48 hours after beginning hostilities. We\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the statement issued Friday, the White House defended the president\u2019s approach to the war in relation to how its involved Congress, adding that Trump and administration officials \u201ccontinue to keep bipartisan lawmakers in Congress apprised of the operation as the United States continues to dominate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPast presidents have talked about this for 47 years \u2014 but only President Trump has had the courage to do something about it,\u201d White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said.<\/p>\n
Democrats say they\u2019re \u2018flying blind\u2019<\/p>\n
Democratic lawmakers, including some who have been included in classified briefings, have accused administration officials of keeping them \u201cin the dark\u201d and are beginning to demand public congressional hearings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want this administration to testify in public, under oath, regarding a bunch of questions we have in order for the American people to see for themselves,\u201d said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles). \u201cI do believe this administration has lied to the American public and Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gomez, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said he never expected that he would have to spend so much time trying to discern if the administration is lying to lawmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s that\u2019s what makes the job harder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Democrats, who are in the minority, have limited power to call those briefings, but have continued to put pressure on the administration in a public way.<\/p>\n
Senate Democrats last week sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, demanding answers by Wednesday about reports that a U.S. airstrike hit an Iranian elementary school.<\/p>\n
Iranian officials said the explosion killed at least 175 people, most of them children. The U.S. has not taken responsibility for the attack, and Hegseth has said the matter is under investigation. Trump, without providing evidence, has claimed Iran was responsible for the attack.<\/p>\n
Seeking answers has been a common theme among Democrats since the start of the war. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), for instance, said after a classified briefing last week that he had \u201cleft with more questions than answers\u201d and a real concern about the possibility of deploying American troops to Iran.<\/p>\n
Power of the purse<\/p>\n
If the war continues, Congress still retains some leverage.<\/p>\n
Under the War Powers Resolution<\/a> passed by Congress in 1973, unauthorized deployments into hostile situations must end after 60 days unless Congress votes to declare war or passes legislation authorizing the use of the military.<\/p>\nRep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he has told Hegseth and Rubio that if they violate that provision it will be like \u201cstealing money\u201d for actions that are not approved by Congress and warned they could be held civilly liable.<\/p>\n
The 60-day deadline will be a key moment for Congress to step in, Sherman said; otherwise there will be growing concern about Trump having \u201cunchecked power.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, he thinks Republicans in control view their job as \u201cbutler to the president,\u201d and that the Constitution already gives Trump \u201ctoo much power over the military.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Congress is controlled by people who want to be servants to the president, it\u2019s going to do an incredibly bad job of being a check on the president,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Beyond the War Powers Resolution, lawmakers also have power over the appropriations process and could deny the administration\u2019s request to boost military funding. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Congress can stop military action by cutting off funding. If you don\u2019t like the war in Iran, say we won\u2019t pay for it. We have the constitutional power of the purse,\u201d Graham said in a Senate floor speech early in March.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s war with Iran cost $11.3 billion during its first six days, according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n
But Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Diego), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, says he is aware of the figure only because of news reports \u2014 not because the Pentagon has been transparent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are flying blind in the sense that we just don\u2019t know. We don\u2019t know how much is being spent or what it\u2019s being spent on,\u201d Levin said.<\/p>\n
Levin says the military will probably need to bolster its munitions stockpile at the rate the conflict is going.<\/p>\n
If the Pentagon does request more money, Levin said, he would try to ensure that \u201cnot one more dollar goes toward any of this without clear answers and a clear plan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Secretary of State Marco Rubio had some explaining to do when he arrived on Capitol Hill for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10201,10204,10202,467,1275,34,2265,2795,9981,6626,1372,10203,392,36,4723],"class_list":{"0":"post-20258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-administration","9":"tag-answer","10":"tag-classified-briefing","11":"tag-congress","12":"tag-democrats","13":"tag-iran","14":"tag-israeli-attack","15":"tag-lawmaker","16":"tag-member","17":"tag-military-force","18":"tag-president","19":"tag-rubio","20":"tag-trump","21":"tag-war","22":"tag-war-effort"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116233187461705814","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}