Senate rebukes Trump, votes to limit Iran war making ability
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[February 14, 2020]
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate
passed legislation on Thursday to limit President Donald Trump's ability
to wage war against Iran, rebuking him weeks after a strike against an
Iranian military commander and Tehran's retaliation raised fears of
broader regional conflict.
Eight of Trump's fellow Republicans joined Democrats to pass the war
powers resolution by 55-45. The measure would require Trump to remove
U.S. troops engaged in hostilities against Iran unless Congress declares
war or passes a specific authorization for the use of military force.
Trump has promised a veto, and there is not expected to be enough
support to muster the two-thirds Senate super majority to override.
Fifty-three of the 100 senators are Republicans, who rarely break with
the president.
Senators voted nearly along party lines a week ago to acquit Trump of
impeachment charges, after an investigation and trial that underscored
Washington's bitter partisan divides.
Opponents said the resolution's passage sent the wrong message.
"We need to send a message of firmness, and not weakness," said Senator
Jim Risch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, author of the resolution, said the vote
showed strength and reflected the importance of Congress weighing in on
any decision to deploy troops.
Even if the Senate cannot override a veto, Kaine said the resolution's
backers hoped it would influence Trump when it came to future military
action, adding that the president cared about what the public thinks, if
not the Senate.
"The bill getting to his desk is an indication that we're listening to
our constituents, and we're telling him blundering into another war
would be a bad idea," Kaine told a news conference after the vote.
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U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), flanked by Senator
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM)
and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), holds a news conference after the final
vote on the war powers resolution regarding potential military
action against Iran, at the Capitol in Washington, U.S. February 13,
2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The bill's supporters noted that they were gaining more support for
efforts to take back Congress' authority to declare war. The
Constitution gives that power to Congress, not the president, but
presidents from both parties in recent decades have expanded the
White House's authority to pursue military action without
legislators' input.
Republican Senator Todd Young, who voted for the resolution, said it
should not have been necessary, but Congress had for years
"attempted to pass the buck" to the president when decisions about
military action had to be made.
"It's time to do our job," Young said in a statement explaining his
vote that also praised Trump's leadership.
In June, another resolution that would have required Trump to get
Congress' permission before striking Iran failed in the Senate.
Congress in July failed to override Trump's veto of legislation
opposing the president's declaration of an emergency to allow the
sale of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia,
despite lawmakers objections.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives last month passed
a war powers resolution similar to the one the Senate approved on
Thursday, also by less than a two-thirds super majority. But there
are enough differences between the Senate's version and the House's
that it must pass that chamber again before it can be sent to
Trump's desk.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Susan
Cornwell; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)
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