Congress: US Lawmakers Demand Scrutiny of Trump’s Controversial Iran Moves

Congress: On Sunday, a number of Republican and Democratic legislators urged Congress to stop President Donald Trump from using military action in Iran and to keep the United States out of a growing Middle East crisis.

Any resolution that affirms Congress’s authority to declare war and limits Trump’s actions was unlikely to pass both houses, as Republican leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives firmly supported the U.S. assaults on strategic Iranian nuclear facilities.

U.S. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said that he anticipates forcing the Senate to vote on his bill this week, which would require Trump to end hostilities with Iran unless specifically permitted by a congressional declaration of war. Both Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California and Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky said that they would want a vote on comparable legislation that they proposed in the House.

“This is the U.S. jumping into a war of choice at Donald Trump’s urging, without any compelling national security interest for the United States to act in this way, particularly without a debate and vote in Congress,” Kaine said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” show.

A request for a response from the White House about the legislators’ criticism was not answered.

According to those familiar with the situation, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson were both informed in advance of the U.S. military action. On Tuesday, congressional members are anticipated to get a briefing.

In response to Kaine’s legislation, Thune’s staff refused to comment.

Trump’s populist MAGA movement was split on Saturday over the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities; while some leaders supported the president, others demanded an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were dubbed the “forever wars” by the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks on American soil.

“The coalition that elected President Trump includes me. We were fed up with never-ending wars,” Massie told CBS. “We were promised that we would put our veterans, our immigration policies and our infrastructure first.”
According to Massie and Kaine, Trump does not need to take unilateral action right now.

“There was no imminent threat to the United States,” Massie said. “We haven’t been briefed.”
Regarding Iran’s proximity to developing a nuclear weapon, intelligence assessments and experts have come to differing views. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said on Friday that the United States has information suggesting Iran could produce a nuclear bomb within weeks or months if it so chooses. According to U.S. authorities, Iran has not made the decision to produce a weapon.

Iran asserts that its nuclear aspirations are peaceful and centered on the development of electricity and medicine. However, since Tehran increased enrichment to 60%, which is just below the weapons grade of 90%, and restricted foreign inspectors’ access to its installations, its program—which started in the late 1950s with U.S. support—has come under scrutiny.

Trump said on Sunday that he would back Massie’s main opponent in the 2026 midterm elections, claiming the congressman from Kentucky’s resistance to Trump’s legislative initiatives and his condemnation of the Iran assault demonstrated that he was not in line with the party’s new base.
Trump said on Truth Social that “MAGA is not about lazy, grandstanding, nonproductive politicians, of whom Thomas Massie is definitely one.”

Republicans express varying opinions.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, another Trump supporter, chastised Trump’s decision on Sunday as well, but she maintained that she was not betraying her country.
“I can also support President Trump and his great administration on many of the great things they are doing while disagreeing on bombing Iran and getting involved in a hot war that Israel started,” the Republican from Georgia said on X.

Claims that Trump’s measures against Iran violated the U.S. Constitution and a federal provision that limits a president’s unilateral action to circumstances involving an attack on the United States were rebutted by other Trump backers.

“He had all the constitutionally required authorities. They are mistaken,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime Trump supporter and prominent congressional voice on U.S. foreign policy issues.

“If you don’t like what the president does in terms of war, you can cut off the funding,” the Republican from South Carolina said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” show.
Republican legislators mostly praised the assaults on Iran, saying they halted Iran’s progress toward acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“The President made the right call and did what he needed to do,” Johnson said late Saturday in a post on X. “The Commander-in-Chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act.”

The president is designated as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces by the U.S. Constitution, but Congress has the exclusive ability to declare war. In recent years, Congress has given presidents of both parties the authority to deploy military force, changing the balance of power.
Democrats, however, cautioned that it was too soon to determine if the operation was successful and that Iran may have relocated its nuclear stuff to locations far from American objectives.

“This nation’s ongoing involvement in foreign conflicts is a tragedy. The next day, we proudly pronounce the job completed, but Americans will have to live with the repercussions for decades,” Khanna told CBS.