Trump’s strike against Iran divides Congress on war powers

Washington – The strikes of President Trump on Iranian nuclear sites during the weekend have sparked Bipartisse efforts to force a vote to reaffirm the power of the congress to declare war, although the president of the room, Mike Johnson have accepted a ceasefire.

“It’s a kind of questionable point now, right?” The Louisiana Republican said on Monday evening. “It seems rather silly at this stage and I hope they will recognize it as such and will put it in bed because it has no chance of passing anyway.”

Israel and Iran did not comment on Mr. Trump’s ceasefire.

While Mr. Trump assessed the use of direct military force against Iran last week, a bipartite contingent of the legislators demanded that the president asked for the approval of the congress before going ahead with any action.

Several resolutions of war powers were introduced into the two chambers before Saturday strikes to prevent the United States from getting involved in the war between Iran and Israel. The resolutions would force the congress to authorize the force against Iran, preventing the president from taking unilateral measures. Legislators supporting resolutions stressed that only Congress has the power to declare war under the Constitution.

Following American attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, representatives Thomas Massie, a Kentucky republican, and Ro Khanna, a Democrat in California, called on the Congress to be reconstituted immediately to vote on their resolution of war powers, which has dozens of coparraine.

The members of the Chamber through the political spectrum, of the Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia to the Democrat representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York, came against a conflict with Iran, indicating that the resolution could have broad support and adopt.

But Johnson said earlier on Monday that he could not obtain a vote, telling journalists that it is not “appropriate time” for a resolution of war powers.

“For 80 years, the presidents of the two parties acted with the same authority of Commander -in -Chief under article two,” said Johnson. “The president made an assessment that the danger was imminent enough to take his authority as a commander -in -chief and make this decision.”

Massie said that he would not force a vote on the resolution if the ceasefire was held and that the United States is not engaged in “hostilities” towards Iran.

“Then it’s a questionable point,” he said, calling the situation “wait and see”.

Meanwhile, the best Democrats in Congress said they were still in the dark of Mr. Trump’s decision Bombing three nuclear sites In Iran on Saturday, even as Iran launched reprisal strikes Monday.

The minority head of the Hakeem Jeffries room, a New York Democrat, said on Monday afternoon that he was still not informed by the White House. Jeffries received a brief call shortly before Mr. Trump announced the strikes to the public on Saturday, according to a source familiar with the call.

Jeffries told journalists that notification was a “call for courtesy without explanation as to justification” for American military participation in Iran and accused the president of potentially deceiving the public.

He wants to know: “What is the administration hiding?” And Jeffries added that he had asked the Brief Administration of Congress leaders and the best Democrats and Republicans of the intelligence committees on climbing the conflict. “It has not yet happened, and it is not clear for me what the administration hides from the Congress and the American people.”

A spokesperson for the head of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said that he had received a similar notification “without any detail” before the strikes on Iran.

In a statement on Monday after Iran retaliated, Schumer said he had asked the Trump administration to give him a classified briefing on “the image of the complete threat, intelligence behind Iran reprisals and details, scope and chronology of American response”.

“The Trump administration should not make the same mistake as this weekend by launching strikes without giving details to the congress,” said Schumer.

Jeffries also said that he had not been informed earlier on Monday before Iran launched missiles to an American base in Qatar.

But Johnson said he had received a classified briefing on the situation on Monday morning.

“Reprisals were expected,” Johnson told journalists.

The Trump administration is expected to inform all the legislators in the Chamber and the Senate on the situation on Tuesday.

Jeffries said the administration had no evidence in Congress that Iran had formed an imminent threat requiring immediate military action.

“What was the imminent threat to the United States of America?” Said Jeffries. “There was no evidence to present an imminent threat.”

In the Senate, a similar resolution was presented by the Democratic Senator Tim Kaine de Virginie. Asked at the time of the vote on Monday, the whip of the majority of the Senate John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, said the Senate could vote “this week”.

Jaala Brown,,

Nikole Killion And

ALAN HE

contributed to this report.