US House Passes Resolution to Limit Trump's War Powers on Iran

The United States House of Representatives has passed a resolution to rein in President Donald Trump’s powers to attack Iran without congressional authorisation.

Four Republicans joined Democrats to pass the bill in a vote of 215 to 208 on Wednesday in Washington, DC.

While the resolution is unlikely to become law, it represents a stark rebuke against Trump’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran on February 28, launching an ongoing conflict that reaches its 100th day on Saturday.

Trump did not seek congressional approval for the war, which he has attempted to label as a “skirmish” or a “short-term excursion”.

But the Republican leader’s repeated use of military force abroad has frustrated some leaders in Congress, a body which the Constitution solely imbued with the power to declare war.

Wednesday’s vote marked the fourth time this year the House of Representatives has voted on a war powers resolution to force Trump to seek congressional backing for his military actions against Iran.

It is the first time, however, that the resolution has been successful in the House. That passage comes after a political manoeuvre that some interpreted as a Republican effort to scuttle the vote.

A vote on the war powers resolution was expected on May 21, the eve of Congress’s Memorial Day recess.

But the vote was cancelled, despite indications that the resolution would succeed with Republican support. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican and close Trump ally, chose to adjourn the chamber early.

The resolution, however, was picked up again after the recess. In Wednesday’s vote, Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky splintered away from the Republican establishment to pass the bill.

Massie, whose re-election bid President Trump actively campaigned against, marked the occasion with a message on social media.

“The Iran War Powers Resolution that I cosponsored (opposing the war) just passed the House of Representatives,” Massie wrote. “The People’s House is sending a message: end this war.”

Massie will not be returning to Congress next year. He was defeated last month in his local Republican Party primary by a Trump-backed opponent, Ed Gallrein.

While Trump’s war against Iran has divided House Republicans, the chamber’s Democrats were unanimous in their backing of the war powers resolution.

After the vote, several took urged their colleagues in the Senate to swiftly pass the measure.

“We passed an Iran War Powers Resolution in the House to rein in Trump and end his unauthorized, reckless war,” Representative Ayanna Pressley, a progressive from Massachusetts, wrote on social media. “The Senate must immediately follow suit and act to end this war.”

Representative Shontel Brown of Ohio, meanwhile, underscored the constitutional issues raised by Trump’s war, as well as its cost.

“Congress holds the power to declare war—not the executive branch,” she said in a post. “After months of chaos, higher costs, and wasted resources, it is time to end Trump’s costly war in Iran NOW.”

The Iran war has been costly to the US, with the Pentagon estimating in May that $29bn has been spent so far.

Some analysts consider that an undercount, though. In April, a public finance expert at Harvard University projected that the price tag could soar to more than $1 trillion.

There are also concerns that the war has cost the US in terms of military preparedness.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US-based research institute, issued a report in April warning that certain critical munitions have run low, with the number used outstripping the number of anticipated replacements.

Those include Tomahawk missiles, Terminal High Altitude Area Defenses (THAADs) and Precision Strike missiles (PrSMs).