{"id":5376,"date":"2026-07-20T20:06:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T20:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5376"},"modified":"2026-07-20T20:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T20:06:30","slug":"gop-boxed-in-on-iran-war-as-trump-sidelines-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5376","title":{"rendered":"GOP boxed in on Iran war as Trump sidelines Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>WASHINGTON &#8212; President Trump has yet again circumvented the legislative branch as he orders American forces back into combat in the Middle East, weeks after both chambers of Congress rebuked him for waging war with Iran without authorization.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5374\">Darline Graham says she will run for a full term in Lindsey Graham\u2019s Senate seat<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>The collapse of the ceasefire and resumption of hostilities has inflamed a debate on Capitol Hill over war powers just as the administration is seeking tens of billions of dollars to pay for the conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That has presented Republicans with a political worst-case scenario months before midterm elections in which their majorities are at stake: They are being asked to vote to fund an unpopular war over which they have had no meaningful oversight and which they have never voted to approve.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>\u201cThe greatest fighting force on the planet, the last great superpower, must be fully equipped, and that\u2019s the job of Congress to make sure it\u2019s done,\u201d House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN\u2019s Manu Raju last week at the Capitol. The administration last month requested $87.6 billion in supplemental funding that would include $67.1 billion in extra military spending this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Asked whether it wasn\u2019t also the job of Congress to authorize the war, Johnson replied: \u201cWe\u2019re going to supply the needs for America\u2019s national security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The position amounts to the latest instance of Republicans ceding power to the executive branch, as they sidestep a debate over the conduct of the war and try to rally support within their ranks for a filibuster-proof, party-line bill to pay for it with no strings attached.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is all the more remarkable coming weeks after bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate voted to reassert Congress\u2019 constitutional role over matters of war, a slap on Trump\u2019s wrist four months into a conflict that he had said would last a matter of weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Democrats who worked for months to rally support for such a reproach have followed it up by refusing to allow consideration of the annual defense policy bill or back legislation to fund the military. They have argued that Congress cannot separate its power of the purse from its constitutional authority over war, demanding that the administration share more information about its strategy and plan for the war before they consider voting to bankroll it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf the Republicans want our votes, they should provide a credible strategy,\u201d Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, said in an interview last week. \u201cHow long it lasts, where does it end, what our goals are. Very simple. They haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Republicans, by contrast, have largely sidestepped the renewed war powers debate, many of them echoing Trump\u2019s justification for resuming the fight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe fact of the matter is, President Trump is the first president dealing with what has been the status quo for decades &#8212; which is Iran attacking everybody\u2019s ships, everybody\u2019s navy, everybody\u2019s anything going through the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, said Friday during an interview on Fox News. \u201cAfter this escalation from them, we are now the United States of America that says this is not going to be the status quo. It\u2019s going to change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Lawmakers are expected to get one of their first opportunities to publicly press administration officials on the resumption of fighting Tuesday, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee to defend the Pentagon\u2019s request for additional military funding this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5372\">REI to close its longtime Boston store next month<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>A handful of Republicans have criticized the administration\u2019s lack of transparency and called for additional information, including those who previously joined Democrats in supporting the war powers measure that called on Trump to end hostilities or seek authorization from Congress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf they\u2019re restarting, we should have another briefing,\u201d Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told reporters. He was one of four GOP senators who broke with their party and supported the measure last month.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Sen. John Curtis of Utah, one of the few Republicans who said earlier in the conflict that he would not support military action extending beyond 60 days without congressional authorization, has repeatedly warned his colleagues against repeating mistakes of the past.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cCongress just kept funding the Vietnam War even though there was never a declaration of war,\u201d he said in an interview with Utah news outlet KSL last week, invoking the conflict that ultimately led Congress to enact the War Powers Resolution. \u201cThis is not an anti-president move. This is a \u2018Congress, do your job\u2019 move,\u201d he added. \u201cWe can\u2019t just sit back and put this on the president\u2019s shoulder. We need to get involved.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But Curtis has consistently joined Republicans in voting against war powers resolutions. And Trump has shown no indication that he plans to work with members of Congress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He ignored both chambers\u2019 votes directing him to seek authorization for the conflict and last week formally informed Congress that fighting had resumed and that he was again acting under his commander-in-chief authority with no need to consult with lawmakers. In his notification, the president described the renewed campaign as a \u201climited, measured\u201d response to new Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz but also said American forces remained prepared to take \u201cfurther action, as necessary and appropriate,\u201d if Iran continued threatening the United States and its allies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sunday evening marked the ninth consecutive night that the United States and Iran traded another wave of strikes. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that American forces \u201cwere holding Iran accountable at the commander in chief\u2019s direction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Three U.S. soldiers were killed over the weekend: two in Jordan when an Iranian ballistic missile struck a military base and another during the disposal of an Iranian drone in northern Iraq.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The number of American military personnel killed since the war began at the end of February is now up to 17.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On Monday afternoon, Trump vowed to avenge the deaths of the soldiers, saying in a social media post that \u201cevery time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5370\">What I learned on my summer vacation: the Mass. economy edition<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span><i>This article originally appeared in <\/i><i>The New York Times<\/i><i>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republicans now face a worst-case political scenario of being asked to fund an unpopular war over which they have exercised little oversight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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