Hakeem Jeffries Said Trump’s Attack on Iran Was Unconstitutional. What’s He Going to Do About It?

Americans are opposed to a war with Iran With voters on their side particular rank-and-file Democrats in Congress teamed up with a Republican to try to block President Donald Trump from launching just such a war With limited sponsorship from Democratic Party leadership however those efforts faltered Now that Trump has launched a military assault against Iran Democratic leaders are still deciding how to react Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for his part has yet to announce whether he backs a bipartisan resolution to halt military action Instead of backing the existing resolution from Reps Thomas Massie R-Ky and Ro Khanna D-Calif high-ranking Democrats in the House are reportedly working on an alternative measure Advocates for the bipartisan bill fear the alternative could dilute aid for the initial measure In the Senate meanwhile Minority Leader Chuck Schumer belatedly threw his patronage behind a companion War Powers Resolution With broad Republican promotion for Trump that bill faces long odds of success Related Self-Proclaimed Peacemaker Drags U S Into Another War Advocates revealed they are pushing hard for Democrats to line up behind the bipartisan measure but they wish that Democratic leaders such as Schumer had acted sooner Perhaps if Trump had seen aggressive pushback and a united front from the Democratic Party revealed Yasmine Taeb the legislative and political director for the Muslim advocacy group MPower Change then he wouldn t have felt so emboldened to move forward with the unauthorized strikes on Iran The push to stop Trump s war started last week before the strikes even began with companion resolutions from Massie and Khanna in the House and Sen Tim Kaine D-Va in the upper chamber Both resolutions are made under the War Powers Act the law passed in response to the Vietnam War that limits when the president can launch military action and how Congress can move to end a conflict that has already begun The Massie-Khanna resolution was filed last Tuesday as Trump publicly weighed whether to join Israel s attacks on Iran The resolution directs the President to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any part of its executive or military unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran The bill was introduced before Iran launched strikes Monday against a U S military base in Qatar A separate provision in the resolution states that it does nothing to prevent the United States from defending itself from imminent attack In addition to Massie and Khanna the resolution so far has co-sponsors All are Democrats and the majority are aligned with the progressive wing of the party Kaine meanwhile has deliberately avoided adding co-sponsors to his rule as he attempts to attract GOP backing He described Punchbowl News over the weekend that he expected selected Republicans to join On Saturday Schumer called for a quick vote on Kaine s resolution for which he has declared his assistance since Trump s attack As the strikes loomed last week however he decided against supporting a bill from Sen Bernie Sanders I-Vt that would have blocked funding for the strikes Even with Schumer s endorsement advocates concede that Kaine s resolution faces long odds A multitude of Republicans have already issued statements in backing of a strike and even a productive resolution could be vetoed by Trump On the other side of the Capitol Jeffries criticized the way the strikes were conducted but stopped short of calling for a vote on the Khanna-Massie resolution Instead he has called on the White House to brief Congress Jeffries s office did not respond to a request for comment Monday on whether he supports the Massie-Khanna resolution Haven t taken a look at it he disclosed Monday according to Semafor reporter Dave Weigel On a Monday call advocates on a press call urged more members of Congress to back the resolution On the call Sara Haghdoosti the executive director of the anti-war group Win Without War reported Poll after poll shows how deeply the American community does not patronage strikes on Iran and war with Iran Trump s attack on Iran remains so fresh that plenty of people are still making up their minds but polls conducted before and after show plurality opposition Americans were opposed to the strikes by a to percent margin before they happened according to a Washington Post survey conducted by text message last Wednesday The poll also revealed a relatively high number of Americans percent were unsure of how they felt about the looming conflict Snap polls conducted by YouGov after the strike likewise determined that a plurality of adults were against bombing Iran Democrats looking for a political reason to oppose the strikes could find one in the crosstabs Fully two-thirds of Democrats were opposed versus percent in patronage in the Washington Post poll One of the meager Democrats to offer unqualified encouragement for the strikes Sen John Fetterman of Pennsylvania called them the correct move in a post on X adding I m grateful for and salute the finest military in the world Progressives have issued strong statements opposed to the strike Other members of Congress have issued more scrupulously worded statements that attack Trump for launching the strikes without congressional authorization while reiterating their assistance for Israel and opposition to Iran getting nuclear weapons That kind of triangulation worries advocates who are waiting for the text of a pending War Powers Resolution from three members of Democratic leadership Reps Gregory Meeks D-N Y Adam Smith D-Wash and Jim Himes D-Conn Related Now in Power Key Anti-War Democrats Soften on Saudi War in Yemen So does the history of the resolution s sponsors In Meeks and Smith backed a measure purportedly meant to restrict U S assistance for Saudi Arabia s war on Yemen that activists noted would detract from a firmer provision offered by Khanna The resolution s authors did not respond to a request for the text of the resolution or comment on why its authors felt compelled to offer an alternative to the Massie-Khanna effort All three Democrats behind the competing resolution are committee leaders endorsed by American Israel Masses Affairs Committee the influential pro-Israel group that is lobbying in assistance of Trump s strikes The post Hakeem Jeffries Revealed Trump s Attack on Iran Was Unconstitutional What s He Going to Do About It appeared first on The Intercept