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Most Republicans are falling in line behind President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities while Democrats are asking for more information and dinging the president for not seeking congressional approval.
There are a handful of people in the middle.
Some pro-Israel Democrats like Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said she hoped the strike is decisive and that the administration “must involve Congress before taking any further US military action against Iran.” Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, told Semafor that he “support[s] President Trump’s goal [and] commend[s] the strength and precision of this strike. That said, freedom once surrendered is rarely regained.”
“If we’re serious about restoring a government limited by the Constitution, we must also restore the war powers framework our founders intended,” Davidson added. “While President Trump has legal precedent on his side, the legal reality underscores how far we’ve drifted from the constitutional order.”
It’s a fight that will come to the Senate floor sometime soon as Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., seeks a vote on war powers. Ahead of that, Vice president JD Vance is trying to set the tone for populist Republicans like Davidson who are worried about another forever war and avoid any further defections from Trump’s position a la libertarian-leaning Republicans like Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who is the sponsor of the House version of Kaine’s bill.
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Vance has been highly critical of past US interventions as have many newer GOP lawmakers. In a series of TV appearances Sunday, the vice president pledged that “this is not going to be some long, drawn-out thing” and insisted that the US is at war with Iran’s nuclear program, rather than Iran itself — a line that will surely take some selling to skeptical lawmakers.
Already, some in MAGA world aren’t buying it. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said Sunday that “Americans are exhausted by all of this and rightfully so.” Massie drew fire from Trump and some of his top advisers when he called again for a vote on his resolution with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., that would block “unauthorized hostilities” in Iran.
“I wouldn’t call my side of the MAGA base isolationists; we are exhausted, we are tired from all of these wars, and we’re non-interventionists,” Massie said. “What he promised us was we would put America first.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is already making moves “for all senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war.” And Massie is exploring ways to force a vote on the proposal in the House. It would otherwise require the sign-off of Republican leaders, who have so far defended Trump’s ability to conduct the strikes.
“The president made the right call, and did what he needed to do,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said. “Tonight’s necessary, limited, and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday that the administration notified lawmakers after the bombers left Iranian airspace. Senators expect to learn more at Tuesday’s Iran briefing.