US lawmakers vote to curb Trump’s war powers with Iran

By James Reinl

NEW YORK (AA) - The Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution Thursday forcing President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before taking any new military measures against Iran.

The mostly symbolic war powers resolution was approved after nearly all House Democrats were joined by three Republicans and one independent lawmaker to vote 224-194 in favor of the measure.

The vote took place almost a week after Trump, a Republican, signed off on a U.S. drone strike in Iraq that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, and brought Iran and the U.S. closer to an all-out war than at any time since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said the assassination outside an airport in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, had made the world more dangerous by stirring up an already turbulent region.

“After nearly two decades at war, President Trump has further risked the safety and security of America, our service members, and our allies by escalating tensions with Iran to a dangerous new level,” Nadler wrote on Twitter.

Republicans, however, argued that Iran needed to be tackled and that Trump was already allowed to greenlight such strikes thanks to a 2002 war authorization passed by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

“The War Powers resolution that Democrats just voted for has as much force of law as a New Year’s resolution,” wrote Kevin McCarthy, the top House Republican, via Twitter. “How embarrassing.”

The upper house of Congress, the Senate, could consider a similar measure that may more effectively limit Trump’s war-making powers, although it is unlikely to gain much traction in the Republican-held chamber.