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Democrats Finally Get Around to Forcing Iran War Powers Vote

With Congress not reconvening until next week, there’s a chance the vote might come after attacks start.

House Democratic leaders threw their weight behind a vote to force President Donald Trump to make the case for war with Iran on Thursday, after concerns from advocates that they were slow-walking a war powers resolution.

In a joint statement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other top Democrats said they would force a vote as soon as Congress reconvenes next week.

The delay in forcing a vote means, however, that Trump or Israel could attack Iran before a vote even happens. No matter the timing, observers expect the war power resolution to fail due to scattered Democratic opposition.

Pro-Israel hard-liners Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., have both come out against the bill. They have taken the position that Trump should have a free hand — with Moskowitz even deriding the resolution as the “Ayatollah Protection Act.”

In Moskowitz’s case, his position is drawing fire from primary opponent Oliver Larkin, a Democratic Socialists of America member who said Moskowitz’s comments showed “unseriousness” about the looming war.

“He is ultimately willing to cede congressional war powers authority, which is required under the Constitution. He is willing to continue this failed, multiple decades of ceding congressional power to the president, to the executive, with catastrophic results,” Larkin said.

Moskowitz’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Gottheimer and Moskowitz have taken a different public stance than Democratic leaders, who have generally expressed caution about the prospect of war with Iran.

It was only Thursday, however, that top Democrats including Jeffries gave a full-throated endorsement of a bipartisan war powers resolution from Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

At a minimum, Democratic leaders could have been more aggressive in pursuing a vote on a possible U.S attack that Trump has floated for weeks, said Erik Sperling, the executive director of the nonprofit group Just Foreign Policy.

“What really counts is having the vote and having it before the war.”

“What really counts is having the vote and having it before the war.”

“But what really counts is having the vote and having it........

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