Senate Republicans block Democrat's war powers resolution
by Darryl Coote · UPIMarch 19 (UPI) -- Senate Republicans have blocked a Democrat-led effort to curb President Donald Trump's powers to wage war against Iran, as the nearly three-week-old conflict escalates and rattles global energy markets.
The Senate voted 53-47 mostly along party lines Wednesday night to reject a resolution that would withdraw U.S. armed forces from conflict with Iran absent congressional approval.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to join his Democratic colleagues and vote in favor of the motion, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only member of his caucus to vote against it.
"We do not have a king. We are a democratic republic with a constitution and no one is above the law," Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.Y., said Wednesday from the Senate floor before the vote.
"This president cannot take us to war without coming through this body. He is not able to do that unless this body supplicates itself before that man and surrenders its responsibilities."
Senate Democrats forced the vote on the resolution that Booker sponsored as the conflict escalated on Wednesday, with Iran attacking Persian Gulf energy facilities in retaliation for Israel striking its South Pars gas field.
Thirteen American service members have been killed, and another 200 have been wounded so far in the conflict, which is threatening to become a regional war as Iran has retaliated by attacking U.S. bases and its allies in the Middle East.
Democrats of both chambers of Congress have been attempting to rein in Trump's war powers through resolutions since the war with Iran began late last month. They argue the United States' ongoing war with Iran violates the Constitution, which mandates that only Congress has the power to declare war.
The conflict has also seen the cost of oil surge. On Thursday, Brent crude reached nearly $110 a barrel, up from an average $71 before the war began on Feb. 28.
Wednesday's vote is the third time -- and the second by the Senate -- that the majority Republicans have blocked war powers motions.
From the floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, "Enough is enough."
"To my Republican colleagues: The American people are watching. They oppose this war. They expect us to do our jobs," he said.
"No more senseless wars in the Middle East. No more gas prices shooting through the roof. No more U.S. service members fighting and dying for in endless wars."
Though the war has exposed fissures in the Republican Party, its members still mostly stand behind the president, who campaigned on ending conflicts and warning Americans that the Democrats would wage war with Iran if they won the White House.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, argued on the Senate floor that the war is intended to prevent Iran from securing a nuclear weapon.
He said during the prior negotiations the United States offered Iran what he called "a lifetime fuel supply for free" if the Islamic regime agreed to hand over its cache of highly enriched uranium. It is believed that Iran had enriched uranium to 60%, according to a recent International Atomic Energy Agency report, which is below weapons grade enrichment at 90%.
Graham compared the Islamic regime of Iran to Nazi Germany.
"If you do not see this as an imminent threat, then you're blind from your hatred of Trump," he said.
"There are people on the left and people in my own party that are more afraid of Trump being successful than the Ayatollah having a nuclear weapon. That's sick."