The Senate voted 49-50 on Thursday to kill the 13th Democrat-backed War Powers resolution aimed at forcing Trump to step back from the conflict with Iran, which is either a demonstration of Senate Republican unity or a demonstration that the same vote has been held 13 times and the outcome is the same each time, depending on how charitably you are interpreting the legislative strategy.
Fetterman voted no with Republicans, which is the vote from the Democratic senator who called Zohran Mamdani a clown, described Abdul El-Sayed as a “phony” whose wife won’t accept Medicaid, and who has spent two years as the Democratic caucus’s most reliable source of cross-aisle cover on foreign policy. Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul voted yes with Democrats. Mitch McConnell was absent. The resolution needed 51 votes. It got 49. The 13th attempt produced the same result as the first 12.
Just 28% of US adults now approve of Trump’s handling of the Iran conflict, per an AP poll cited in the Fox News live blog, down from 34% the previous month, which is a 6-point decline in 30 days in which Iran launched a surprise missile attack on American troops in Jordan, CENTCOM responded with heavy waves of strikes, Jordan shot down five additional Iranian missiles, Saudi Arabia joined joint strikes in Iraq, a 19-year-old from Carrollton, Texas, was killed, and 18 American service members total died. The 28% approval number is not the approval number of a war that is going well.
The War Powers Act requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying troops into hostilities, and to withdraw forces within 60 days absent congressional authorization. The conflict has been ongoing for five months. Congress has voted 13 times to invoke the act. It has not succeeded once. The 60-day clock, which some constitutional scholars argue has already run out, continues to be a matter that neither the administration nor the courts have been asked to adjudicate in a way that requires an answer.
13 votes. Same result. 28% approval.
When Congress has voted 13 times to end a war and lost 13 times and approval has fallen to 28%, what exactly is the democratic accountability mechanism?
Sources
Fox News Live: Iran war, War Powers vote, July 30
Raw Story: Senate Republicans Reject War Powers Resolution After Trump Berates Them At Capitol Meeting
