The House proposal follows the introduction of a similar Senate resolution requiring the Trump administration to get congressional approval before attacking Iran.
Sideview of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington. (Diane Krauthamer, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
By Brett Wilkins
Common Dreams
Numerous House progressives said Tuesday that they will support legislation that would force President Donald Trump to obtain congressional permission to wage war on Iran, a development that followed Monday’s introduction of two Senate measures aimed at stopping Trump from dragging the United States into the widening Israel-Iran war.
Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Tuesday introduced legislation affirming the legal requirement under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 — also known as the War Powers Act — for the president to notify lawmakers within 48 hours of committing troops to military action and limiting such action to 60 days, with a 30-day withdrawal period, unless Congress declares war or issues an authorization for the use of military force.
“The Constitution does not permit the executive branch to unilaterally commit an act of war against a sovereign nation that hasn’t attacked the United States,” Massie explained in a statement. “Congress has the sole power to declare war against Iran. The ongoing war between Israel and Iran is not our war. Even if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.”
In a post on the social media site X, Massie thanked the resolution’s co-sponsors, all of them Democrats: Don Beyer (Va.), Greg Casar (Texas), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Jesús “Chuy” García (Ill.), Val Hoyle (Ore.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Summer Lee (Pa.), Jim McGovern (Mass.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.).
More lawmakers — possibly including Republicans — are expected to sign on to the measure.
Americans want cheap gas, groceries, bills, and housing.
They want affordable insurance, safe communities, and good education for their children.
They want a government that works on these issues.
Considering Americans pay for the entire government and government salaries…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene?? (@RepMTG) June 17, 2025
“The president does not have the power to unilaterally declare war. Congressional authorization isn’t optional,” Lee said on social media.
“When some profit both financially and politically from endless war, the rest of us pay the price. We can’t let them lie us into another conflict that will cost innocent lives.”
Lee announcing her U.S. congressional bid in 2021. (Mark Dixon, Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
Tlaib asserted that “the American people aren’t falling for it again. We were lied to about ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in Iraq that killed millions [and] forever changed lives.”
The progressive political action committee Justice Democrats welcomed Massie’s measure:
“Here’s an opportunity for bipartisanship that doesn’t sell out the American people. Every member of Congress should oppose U.S. involvement, funding, weapons, or troops fighting another endless war in the Middle East.”
The House proposal follows Monday’s introduction of a war powers resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and bill by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would prevent the Trump administration from using federal funds for a military attack on Iran without congressional approval. It also echoes a 2020 resolution proposed in the then-Democrat-controlled House that would have banned Trump from waging war on Iran without lawmakers’ approval.
Explaining her support for Massie’s legislation, Omar said, “I support this resolution because the American people do not want another war.”
Indeed, an Economist/YouGov poll published Tuesday revealed that only 16 percent of surveyed voters “think the U.S. should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran.” Just 10 percent of respondents who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris last year and 19 percent of 2024 Trump voters want the U.S. to wage war on Iran, as do 15 percent of self-described Democrats, 11 percent of Independents and 23 percent of Republicans.
NEW POLL: Do you think the U.S. military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran?
16% YES
60% NOOnly 19% of Trump 2024 voters support US military involvement, with 53% opposed. https://t.co/8gXsQjY0hi pic.twitter.com/zgPBiWCa3Z
— Just Foreign Policy (@justfp) June 17, 2025
A separate survey commissioned by Demand Progress and conducted by the Bullfinch Group recently found that 53 percent of registered voters — including 58 percent of Democrats, 47 percent of Independents and 56 percent of Republicans — want Trump to “obtain congressional authorization before striking targets in other countries.”
“We applaud Rep. Massie and Sen. Kaine for introducing these resolutions to keep us out of yet another war in the Middle East,” Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian said Tuesday. “It should be in the interest of Republicans and Democrats to uphold the Constitution and prevent Israel from dragging us into a disastrous war with Iran.”
“The American people, including a clear majority of Republican voters, believe the president must obtain congressional authorization before initiating strikes against another country,” Kharrazian added. “Congress must listen to them and reassert its constitutional war powers authority by passing these resolutions.”
Israel claims it attacked Iran to stop it from obtaining nuclear weapons. However, successive U.S. intelligence assessments have concluded for decades — most recently in March — that Iran is not trying to build nukes. On Tuesday, Trump brushed off his own director of national intelligence’s findings that Iran is not close to having a nuclear bomb.
I don’t care what Tulsi Gabbard says
– Trump pic.twitter.com/8YVpVfdDsM
— Angelo Giuliano ??????? (@angeloinchina) June 17, 2025
Jon Stewart on Israel’s “urgent” need to strike Iran, and MAGA’s reluctance to fight a war abroad while lusting for civil war at home pic.twitter.com/LqODEGesUJ
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 17, 2025
As Trump ratcheted up his cryptic threats against Tehran amid ongoing Israeli attacks on Iran and Iranian counterstrikes, anti-war voices including the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) — which is circulating a petition demanding Congress act to avert U.S. intervention — and the peace group CodePink urged restraint and negotiation to avert escalating the Mideast crisis.
“Trump continues to renege on his own commitments to diplomacy and an end to wars by perpetuating [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s war of aggression through his own vocal support and U.S. military equipment and personnel in the region,” NIAC said Tuesday. “Israel’s assaults on Tehran have killed upwards of 224 Iranians and hospitalized over 1,277 more.”
“Happening at the same time, in just the last day alone, Israeli forces have also killed at least 51 Palestinians desperate for aid and food at a World Food Program site in southern Gaza,” NIAC noted.
“There is no telling how much more devastation for Iran, Israel, and the U.S. an expanded war on Iran would bring.
“President Trump must immediately halt military aid and support for the Israel war on Iran,” the group added, “and if he will not, Congress must act within its constitutional authority to save millions of American, Iranian, Israeli, and Palestinian lives.”
Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Please Donate to the
Spring Fund Drive!
Anyone with a (D) after their name pretending to be against war at this late date is a sick joke. All of these people, just a year ago, were chanting “Four More Years” of War.
Anyone who was really against war had to oppose both Trump and Biden/Harris in the last election. That these people still have (D)’s after their names, in a vindictive party that goes after any internal opposition so hard that it usually drives them from the party, shows their full commitment to war.
(D) is pro-war, and having that appear in this piece after supposedly anti-war statements only illustrates the giant fraud.
(D) is for Death.
Democrats and by implication democracies don’t fight especially wars remember ? Or so we were theoretically and even theocratically lectured to until Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Iran came along nevermind the long grinding Israel/Palestinian brainless encounters. When and if the U.S. joins in we will know that democracies don’t just fight but they dream of GANGbangs, sadly in all the meanings of that word i
War and Genocide’s Left Flank, providing cover for the War Party’s wars. Typical. And of course, Typically Worthless.
For years, these fakes have been telling us that holding a press conference is the way forward for working people. Look where we are today, and see what a complete failure this has been. We feel your pain, and we promise to hold another press conference. And another, since that’s our day job that pays for our nice house, nice car, and those nice wine and cheese parties.
Now, we are told that holding a Press Conference is the way to prevent World War III. They say people get the government they deserve.
Congress wants the luxury of war without the responsibility of stamping its name on it. Those who have sworn to defend the constitution abandon it for self interest.
Iraqs WMD all over again….this is really geostrategically about splitting/weakening BRICS and Eurasia.
The political hypocrisy is typical yet still sickening. The pandering Ds cynically use this as a way to mobilize the disgruntled “base”, yet almost every single member of the US House and Senate has voted for funding Israel, supporting US aggression, expanding military budgets, illegal support for Ukraine and Israel. Also warmongering rhetoric, making false claims about Russia (and China), and pushing Russia to the point of a direct confrontation with the empire.
The US is an oligarchy, what Congress critters say is just hollow PR. Israel openly bribes Congress, both “parties” and the exec. branch. We need to remember that unlimited political bribery is “legal” and institutionalized. With institutional corruption rampant in all 3 branches of govt. what do we expect?
“The US is an oligarchy” … and these CongressCritters are employees of the Oligarchs. All of them. Its a requirement to get the job. Some of them have the role to pretend being against the oligarchs. Its all part of the charade.
When the TV channels and the social media are all owned by oligarchs, following the leaders who are presented to you by the oligarchs on their channels is suicide. Organize with your neighbors, then pick you own leader from among yourselves.