Democratic senators have filed a wave of new war powers resolutions as they call on Republicans to convene public hearings into the US hostilities with Iran or be forced to vote on continuing a conflict that polls show majorities of 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 filed resolutions under the War Powers Act that would force the US military to withdraw from the war with Iran unless Congress votes to authorize the engagement.
The GOP-controlled Senate and House of Representatives blocked similar resolutions last week, largely along party lines, as Republican leaders argued that Donald Trump was acting within his authority when the United States attacked Iran alongside Israel at the end of February.
Aides to the Democratic senators say the goal of these latest resolutions is to push the Senate majority leader John Thune into convening 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 following 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 potential forever war as they carry the crushing weight of Republicans’ price hikes and health care cuts at home,” the senators said in a joint statement.
“Now is the time for Democrats to use all the leverage we have to try to stop this unnecessary war. [Defense secretary] Pete Hegseth and [secretary of state] Marco Rubio must immediately come before Congress for a public hearing and explain why we’re in this war, how it will end, and why they are prioritizing billions of dollars on an open-ended war instead of lowering 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 they did not answer all of their questions. On Tuesday, lawmakers on the Senate armed services committee are scheduled to receive a briefing on the military operation dubbed Epic Fury, which the US military is conducting alongside Israel.
Recent polls have found the war is unpopular with the public. A NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released last Friday found 56% of total respondents disapproved of the war, with 86% of Democrats and 61% of independents in opposition. However 84% of Republicans approved of the war, according to the survey. The conflict has also brought disruption to global oil markets that have caused gas prices to spike, giving Democrats ammunition to press their case that Trump has not accomplished his campaign promise of driving down costs.
“It’s as if America is being led to war by Marie Antoinette. He has no clue what it’s like to struggle to pay for gas, to pay for the rent, to pay for groceries,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech Monday.
The Democrat endorsed the push by his colleagues for public hearings, saying: “Donald Trump and his administration owe the American people an explanation. Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth and other senior officials must come to the Senate for public hearings and testify under oath as to why our troops are once again fighting and dying in the Middle East.”
The Democratic senators’ resolutions were filed last Thursday and Friday, and can be called up for a vote after 10 days after that.
Such measures can pass with a simple majority in the Senate, where the GOP holds 53 seats and the Democrats 47.
When the chamber voted on last week’s war powers resolution, Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman was the only Democrat to oppose it, while Rand Paul of Kentucky was alone among the GOP in supporting it.
