The Senate will vote on Wednesday on whether to block President Donald Trump from using additional military force against Iran without congressional authorization, as lawmakers from both parties question the administration’s evolving explanations for the recent strikes and warn about the potential for an expanding conflict.
The vote follows a major U.S. military operation that began over the weekend targeting Iran. The escalating situation has heightened the stakes of the debate on Capitol Hill.
The measure is being led by Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, who is forcing a vote under the War Powers Act for the second time in less than a year. Kaine previously pushed a similar resolution in June after the United States bombed three sites linked to Iran’s nuclear program. That effort failed in the Senate.
Kaine is joined by Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, in proposing the resolution. The measure would require the Trump administration to obtain approval from Congress before launching additional military action against Iran.
Though the vote had already been expected, the large-scale military operation that began Saturday has added urgency to the debate.
“They have shifting goals, different goals all the time, different answers every day. And I am truly worried about mission creep,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Tuesday.
Despite the concerns raised by Democrats, the resolution is unlikely to pass. Republicans hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate, and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has pledged to vote against the measure. That means supporters would need at least four Republican senators, in addition to Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, to vote in favor.
One Republican previously viewed as a possible supporter signaled ahead of Wednesday’s vote that he would oppose the resolution, though he called for stronger congressional oversight.
“The United States and our allies are now in conflict with a brutal, hostile, and dangerous regime,” GOP Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said in a statement. “I believe that danger will only grow if we limit the President’s military options at this critical moment.”
Trump said Monday that the operation against Iran was expected to last four to five weeks, though he said the U.S. has the “capability to go far longer than that.” At the same time, the president said the operation was “substantially ahead of our time projections.”
Trump has also declined to rule out deploying U.S. ground troops.
Democrats who attended a classified briefing Tuesday with Trump administration officials said they left unsatisfied with the explanations they received about the conflict’s scope and goals.
“They told us in there that this is an open-ended operation that hasn’t even really started in earnest yet,” said Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. “There will be more Americans killed. They refuse to take off the table, the insertion of ground troops.”
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey also questioned the justification for the strikes.
“There clearly was no imminent threat,” Booker said.
Meanwhile, Democrat Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said Tuesday he could support funding for a war effort against Iran if other regional partners help shoulder the cost.
Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins whether he would back additional Pentagon funding for the conflict, Gallego responded that financial contributions from allies would be key.
“I’m going to say that in my opinion I want to see at least 50 percent of that money has to come from the Gulf States and from Israel,” Gallego said.
