Senate Republicans narrowly stopped another attempt to limit President Donald Trump’s authority on Iran as a peace deal emerges. This latest failed resolution, proposed by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., comes after Trump signed a memorandum with Iran that might end the war. Although Congress lacks details of the agreement, Republicans continued backing the president.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a leader in the Democrats’ war powers efforts, stated that while a potential deal is beneficial, the U.S. and Iran seemed to be entering a pause in conflict as they finalize a longer peace deal.
“An intermission is a great time to do what we should have done before this war, which is have the consultation with Congress that the Constitution requires,” Kaine said. “Why restart a war if we haven’t done our job?”
Despite previous progress in the Senate where some Republicans joined Democrats to oppose the war, Warnock’s resolution failed. Senators Susan Collins, R-Maine, Bill Cassidy, R-La., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., aligned with Democrats last month, but absences helped GOP efforts to allow Trump more time to negotiate.
Senate Foreign Relations Chair James Risch, R-Idaho, argued that Democrats were effectively attempting to aid Iran through their war powers actions. He claimed if the resolution succeeded, Iran would retract from any pending agreement.
“If a miracle happened, a miracle happened, and this passed, got through the Senate, got through the House, and the president signed it — if that miracle happened, do you think Iran would sign the deal that has been negotiated? Of course not,” Risch said.
Congress continues awaiting the deal’s details, which remained undisclosed as of Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., mentioned he has not been briefed on this matter.
When asked about requesting briefings on such issues, Thune replied, “Since I’ve been in this job, we haven’t had this issue, so I don’t know the answer to that.”
He expressed hope for upcoming briefings as officials implied a need to present the agreement to Congress.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., criticized the emerging deal as heavily favoring Iran.
“It’s essentially a surrender. But I think that’s the only play we can make at this point. We have to end this war, stop wasting money, stop killing Americans and civilians, stop driving a crisis,” Murphy said.
“So, it’s a bad deal, but he’s not gonna get a better deal. So, we just have to accept the humiliation.”
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