Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) led a Democratic effort on Wednesday to force U.S. President Donald Trump to get congressional approval to continue the war against Iran.
Gottheimer forced a debate on his resolution, which he sponsored with a group of moderate Democrats, that would force the president to end military action unless Congress either declared war or authorized the use of force.
The Jewish lawmaker has been a fierce critic of the Iranian regime but said that his resolution was designed to ensure that Congress could use its power under the Constitution to decide when to go to war.
Under the War Powers Act, the president must ask Congress within 60 days of using military force for permission to continue his actions.
A vote on the resolution is scheduled to take place at a later date.
Gottheimer said that 74 days into the war with Iran, lawmakers still don’t have basic answers to why Trump launched the attacks and can’t exercise its constitutional responsibility to oversee the president’s conduct of the war.
“Congress still hasn’t been formally briefed on the objectives, our progress or what success looks like,” Gottheimer said during debate on the House floor. “The American people sent us to Washington to be their voice, their eyes and to hold the government accountable. That’s not a partisan position. That’s our job.”
He said that his support of the resolution doesn’t mean he opposes military action in Iran, just that Trump needs to follow the law.
“It’s a call to action to the president of the United States to do what the Constitution requires and to brief the Congress and the country on the state of the conflict, the objectives, the progress we’ve made and what lies ahead,” Gottheimer said.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) argued that the resolution would strengthen Iran while the regime was at its weakest.
“Congress should be on the side of the United States in a conflict with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” Crawford said during the debate. “I, for one, am very appreciative of President Trump’s courage and willingness to do what numerous leaders before him were unable to accomplish for 47 years.”
Gottheimer said that he wasn’t arguing that Iran was not a threat, agreeing that the regime “must be crushed” but that Congress couldn’t exercise its constitutional responsibilities untill the administration was more forthcoming.
“I actually know that the world is a safer, more secure place if the Iranian regime was destroyed,” Gottheimer said. “I want to destroy their nuclear programs, their ballistic missile program, their drone programs and their terrorist proxy programs. But that said, you can’t leave the United States Congress in the dark any longer. You can’t leave the American people in the dark.”
Gottheimer said that he learned more about the war by reading newspaper articles than from administration officials.
“Do you believe that the Congress is being appropriately briefed and kept up to speed?” Gottheimer asked House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.). “My challenge right now is I don’t feel like we’re getting the information that we should be getting as a co-equal branch to make sure that we can do our jobs.”
Mast said he was getting the information needed.
“I’m tracking at least 30 separate briefings, and absolutely I am satisfied with the content of which I’m given on any given day,” Mast said.
“We’ve not been getting those briefings that you’ve been getting, and that’s part of what we’re raising a flag about,” Gottheimer responded. “Just so you understand the real frustration, because I’m with you that we should crush Iran.”
“I want to understand where we are in that process and to actually get the appropriate updates on what’s going on so that I can do my job,” Gottheimer said. “That’s really what this is about for me.”
The co-sponsors are Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Adam Gray (D-Calif.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Greg Landsman (D-Ohio). Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas).
