Republican-led House declines to constrain Trump’s war in Iran, just as Senate did

WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House narrowly voted Thursday to reject a resolution that would restrict President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, one day after the Senate blocked a similar war powers resolution.

Taken together, the pair of failed House and Senate votes represent an implicit authorization by Congress for Trump to carry on his military strikes against Iran, which began last weekend, as a majority of Americans say they oppose the war.

The House vote was 212-219. Just two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, broke with Trump and joined most Democrats in supporting the resolution.

Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the same bipartisan duo that successfully fought for the release of the Epstein files, authored the resolution. It would have halted Trump’s military operations in Iran unless Congress voted to declare war or authorize the use of military force there.

Democrats have pointed out that the Constitution grants Congress the authority to declare war and that Trump and his top officials are calling it a war.

Even before the vote, Massie acknowledged his resolution was headed for defeat. But he said the vote represented a “victory in itself” because it forced a lengthy debate on the Iran conflict in public, on the House floor. He predicted that the popularity of Trump’s war would wane the longer it drags on.

“A war is never more popular than it is on the first day. And I think enthusiasm for this will decline,” Massie told reporters. He added that “as the true cost of this war starts to be known and starts to pile up, there’ll be more support to end it.”

Six Americans have been killed in the conflict so far.

At his weekly news conference Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., blasted Trump and Republicans for hurling “America into another endless conflict in the Middle East, spending billions of dollars to bomb Iran,” but failing to focus on lowering the cost of groceries, health care and housing for Americans.

“What’s the justification for sending American men and women into a theater of war, risking their lives?” Jeffries asked. “We’ve already tragically lost six heroic service men and women, and we mourn for them, and we pray for their families, and we don’t want to see any more American lives lost in Trump’s war of choice.”

Republicans agreed that Trump had a choice, arguing that the commander in chief chose to defend the United States from an “imminent threat.” The president himself has argued that if the U.S. and Israel didn’t carry out joint strikes, Iran would have attacked first and started a nuclear war.

“Defending yourself is a choice. It’s a choice that not everybody makes. Some people, instead of defending themselves, curl up into a corner and cry,” said Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., an Afghanistan war veteran. “Some people stand up, and they step into the fight, and they make the tough choice of going through the battles that it takes to defend yourself.”

“I will thank again President Trump for defending America from an imminent threat — an imminent threat that no other president has had the guts to stand up to,” he said.