A group of Democrats in the United States Senate, including Connecticut’s Chris Murphy (D), say they’re doing everything they can to hold up chamber business until the chamber addresses the war in Iran.
"We are going to use a right that we have under the Senate rules to force a daily debate and vote on the war in Iran, if the president and his allies in Congress continue to refuse to bring a debate on war before the Senate," Murphy said.
Six Senate Democrats want Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, who runs the Pentagon, to testify in front of various Senate committees on the war.
They also want the chamber to vote on whether to authorize strikes on Iran.
Murphy said he thinks the vote would fail.
“The president has declared war without coming to Congress,” Murphy said on Tuesday morning. “You should be furious about that, because this is maybe the most dangerous thing a president can do: send your sons and daughters to die overseas without your consent. So you should expect your senators to use whatever leverage they have to try to address this constitutional crisis.”
The Constitution states that only Congress has the ability to declare war. However, President Donald Trump isn’t the first commander-in-chief to say the War Powers Act does not apply to his decision to strike another country.
Trump and his administration officials have given varying reasons for striking the country -- including the threat of imminent strikes on U.S. bases in the region, a growing ballistic missile program, and expected Israeli strikes on Iran that may lead to retaliation against the U.S.
Democrats have countered those claims, saying there was no imminent threat.
“I think they're avoiding having those hearings, I think they're avoiding having the debate, because they know the public hates this war,” Murphy said. “The public knows how dangerous and insane it is to start another war in the Middle East. We're going to use the leverage that we have to try to force that debate.”
The Senate is scheduled to be in every day this week. The House of Representatives is out.
