(Bloomberg) — Congress is once again trying to curb President Donald Trump’s military options, even after tensions with Iran have lessened since the U.S. strike that killed an Iranian general.
Trump gave mixed signals, initially tweeting on Wednesday that Republicans and Democrats should “vote their HEART” on two measures that the House plans to take up. He later said that Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi was trying to take away a president’s ability to confront other countries and lawmakers should “stand with” the commander-in-chief.
A bipartisan vote is expected for both House bills on Thursday, though they are unlikely to advance in the Republican-led Senate, which is currently occupied with Trump’s impeachment trial. With Thursday’s House vote, the two weightiest duties assigned to Congress — impeachment and war — are being discharged simultaneously at opposite ends of the Capitol.
One of the House bills, introduced by California Democrat Ro Khanna, would ban the use of federal funds for military action against Iran not authorized by Congress. The other, from Representative Barbara Lee, also of California, would repeal a 2002 military authorization the Trump administration cited as part of the justification for the strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in early January.
Veto Threat
Lee has consistently advocated for the repeal of both the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (or AUMF) in Iraq and the 2001 authorization in Afghanistan, both passed under President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Lawmakers of both parties questioned President Barack Obama’s use of the authorizations to justify a continued troop presence in the Middle East. That concern has been amplified under Trump, a president with little foreign policy experience. While Trump campaigned on ending U.S. military commitments in the Middle East, he has kept troops in the region, citing continuing threats from terrorists and Iran.
The Senate has shown some willingness to buck Trump on foreign policy, passing bills regarding the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen but failing to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to override a veto. Trump reluctantly signed measures supporting Hong Kong protesters after they passed both chambers almost unanimously.
The Trump administration said that if the measures on Iran passed the Senate as-is, he would veto both of them, arguing that they would damage his ability to establish a deterrent against Iranian aggression and would violate the Constitution by limiting the commander-in-chief’s authority over the military.
“The 2002 AUMF provides critical authorities for the United States to defend itself and its partner forces as they carry out their missions against terrorist threats emanating from Iraq and in support of a stable, democratic Iraq,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. “The arbitrary termination of the authorization would embolden our enemies.”
Even so, Trump’s first Wednesday tweet appeared to give Republicans a green light to vote for at least one of the measures:
That tweet elicited quick responses from several Republicans. Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, tweeted that he would vote to repeal the 2002 Iraq war authorization.
Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, also said in a tweet that he’d back the repeal.
“Thank you for being the only President in recent decades who hasn’t started a war. The troops truly appreciate your efforts,” he wrote. “As the lead Republican cosponsor of the original bill to repeal the 2002 AUMF in Iraq, I will be voting my heart, and my vote will be yes.”
War Powers
Trump’s second Wednesday tweet, however, more closely resembled his customary demands for party unity in the face of perceived affronts.
Other measures to curb a president’s unilateral military options have attracted interesting coalitions, and nowhere is that more apparent than the Senate companion bill to Khanna’s measure. That bill was introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and Utah Senator Mike Lee, a conservative and close Trump ally.
A Senate bill to repeal the existing authorizations also has bipartisan cosponsors: Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine and Indiana Republican Todd Young.
Kaine has also attracted Republican support for another measure he introduced after the Soleimani killing to constrain Trump’s war powers regarding Iran. That resolution is on hold during the impeachment trial, and while Kaine says it has the votes to pass the Senate, it probably wouldn’t withstand a veto. The House passed a similar measure this month but would have to vote again on the version passed by the Senate.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at [email protected];Roxana Tiron in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at [email protected], Anna Edgerton, Larry Liebert
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