Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
On Thursday the Democratic-led House passed legislation to stop funding for military action in Iran and to repeal the 2002 war authorization for Iraq — which multiple administrations have based unilateral military actions on without the approval of Congress.
Predictably, Trump has threatened to veto both bills amid an ongoing struggle in which doves in Congress are attempting to reign in presumed executive war powers. The first bill blocks President Trump from accessing federal funds for “unauthorized military force against Iran” in a vote of 228-175, which largely came down along party lines.
White House file image
The 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) came up for debate immediately on the heels of the passed Iran vote. A number of Republicans have invoked the AUMF to defend the Jan.3 assassination by drone of IRGC Quds force chief Qassem Soleimani.
“The last thing we can do is give the Pentagon another blank check,” bill sponsor Rep. Ro Khanna of California Khanna (D) told reporters Wednesday. “The only time the Pentagon listens is where we exercise our power of the purse.”
Ahead of the vote, Trump tweeted Wednesday:
“Nancy Pelosi wants Congress to take away authority Presidents use to stand up to other countries and defend AMERICANS. Stand with your Commander in Chiefs!”
Both bills are expected meet their end in the Republican-held Senate, but even if not they would be vetoed by Trump.
Nancy Pelosi wants Congress to take away authority Presidents use to stand up to other countries and defend AMERICANS. Stand with your Commander in Chiefs!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
Ironically, the White House has argued that the bills actually make war with Iran “more likely” because they make it harder for Trump to take action to prevent broader conflict before it starts (i.e.- in the form of assassinating Iranian military leaders to send a strong punitive message, apparently).
Also ironic is that Trump previously criticized former President Obama as well as his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for themselves waging non-Congressionally approved “regime change wars” in places like Libya and Syria, especially on the 2016 campaign trail.
im glad they feel this way but can it physically stop trump from attacking iran? i mean what would happen if he did order action on iran? hopefully they throw his ass out and kick him to the curb lmao
They know fighting iran will blast their debt out of the roof, even they cant do anything good in afghan and iraq, how they able to attack more powerful one like iran
A good step in the direction of reducing tension and reducing American military involvement in the Middle East. It will be interesting to see if the Mullahs regime welcomes this and also reduces tension or continues the “Death to America” demonstrations.
What a completely ignorant comment and idea you hold, you sound like the USA government. The USA is economically and militarily attacking Iran with sanctions, drones and fudning terrorism within Iran and has been doing this since Theodore Roosevelt;s grandson bragged of using only 1 million dollars to overthrow Iran’s government in the 50’s thereby producing a quarter of of a century dictatorship. And Saddam, his attacking of Iran was a US demand and why the the USA gave him BILLIONS of dollars worth of weapons.
Yet here you are and the USA government is, claiming that because there are “Death to America” demonstration that the Iranian government is somehow an equivalent aggressor. Thanks for making exposing yourself and the USA government’s attempted distortion of reality by means of fallacious distractionary rhetoric.
Don you are a fool. There are no good guys or bad guys here. On the one hand there is an aggressive world power and on the other an extreme and stupid Islamist jihadist regim. When one shouts “Death to America” one can expect America to hurt him.
Some 330 million led by a circus (choreographed in Israel) and yet they believe it to be the greatest nation!
“Nancy Pelosi wants Congress to take away authority Presidents use to stand up to other countries and defend AMERICANS. “
‘standing up to countries’ – this is not an emergency use of power, this is withing Congress’ right to declare war. ‘defend AMERICANS’ – this is a total lie. This was a strategic assassination. Soleimani was not preparing any attacks on Americans.
One of Trump’s officials even said, ‘killing Soleimani takes out Iran’s ability to handle their proxy groups [aka partners/allies, hate the robotic use of proxy / surrogate], Soleimani is irreplaceable’. Someone talked Trump into doing an assassination to gain the upper hand, it had nothing to do with a pending attack in any time frame. Does anyone recall the official who admitted this?
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