“Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the Administration’s decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward. Our concerns were not addressed by the President’s insufficient War Powers Act notification and by the Administration’s briefing today," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
said Thursday morning.
Answering those concerns, the House voted to impose restrictions on Donald Trump’s ability to take further military actions against Iran without congressional approval. It passed 224-194, with 8 defections from Democrats and 3 from Republicans. The resolution invokes
the War Powers Resolution, otherwise known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act, which gives Congress the power to declare war. The act requires that the president submit a report to Congress within 48 hours of engaging U.S. forces in hostilities when a war has not been officially declared.
Democrat Sens. Tim Kaine and Dick Durbin have introduced the resolution in the Senate. These are privileged resolutions, meaning that they don’t have to have majority consent to come to the floor and can’t be filibustered. That resolution is likely to come to the Senate floor next week, where it’s unlikely to get majority support, no matter what Sen. Susan Collins says this week.