Lawmakers vow war powers vote on Iran strikes

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

Lawmakers said they would force a Congressional vote on war with Iran after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes in the country on Saturday.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ken., said he and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., will work together to force the vote in Congress once it returns to session.

“I am opposed to this War,” Massie wrote on social media. “The Constitution requires a vote and your Representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war.”

The War Powers Act requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing U.S. armed forces abroad.

“Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk,” Khanna wrote on social media. “Every member of Congress should go on record this weekend on how they will vote.”

Lawmakers across the aisle praised and slammed President Donald Trump for the military strikes on Iran, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.”

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Congress was not briefed on the scope and severity of the threat in Iran.

“Confronting Iran’s malign regional activities, nuclear ambitions, and harsh oppression of Iranian people demands American strength, resolve, regional coordination, and strategic clarity,” Schumer wrote. “Unfortunately, President Trump’s fitful cycles of lashing out and risking wider conflict are not a viable strategy.”

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., praised Trump for moving forward with the military action.

“President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region,” Fetterman wrote in a post on social media.

Lawmakers who praised Trump’s actions also sharply criticized Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and called for regime change in the country. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said military action in the region could cause the “biggest change in the Middle East in a thousand years.”

Graham called on peace between Saudi Arabia and Israel in the wake of the military strikes on Iran. He said the operation in the region will be “extensive.”

“The operation has been well-planned. It will be violent, extensive and I believe, at the end of the day, successful,” Graham wrote on social media. “The demise of the ayatollah’s regime with American blood on its hands is necessary and more than justified.”

The War Powers Act requires hostilies to terminate 60 days after a vote unless Congress authorizes an extension or formally declares war.