Congress Taking First Votes on Iran War03/04 06:10

   The U.S. Senate is headed towards a vote Wednesday on President Donald 
Trump's decision to embark on a war against Iran, an extraordinary test in 
Congress for a conflict that has rapidly spread across the Middle East with no 
clear U.S. exit strategy.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Senate is headed towards a vote Wednesday on 
President Donald Trump's decision to embark on a war against Iran, an 
extraordinary test in Congress for a conflict that has rapidly spread across 
the Middle East with no clear U.S. exit strategy.

   The legislation, known as a war powers resolution, gives lawmakers an 
opportunity to demand congressional approval before any further attacks are 
carried out. The Senate resolution and a similar bill being voted on in the 
House later this week face unlikely paths through the Republican-controlled 
Congress and would almost certainly be vetoed by Trump even if they were to 
pass.

   Nonetheless, the votes marked a weighty moment for lawmakers. Their 
decisions on the five-day-old war -- which Trump entered without congressional 
approval -- could determine the fates of U.S. military members, countless other 
lives and the future of the region.

   "Wars without clear objectives do not remain small. They get bigger, 
bloodier, longer and more expensive," said Senate Democratic leader Chuck 
Schumer at a news conference Tuesday. "This is not a necessary war. It's a war 
of choice."

   Trump administration scrambles for congressional support

   After launching a surprise attack against Iran on Saturday, Trump has 
scrambled to win support for a conflict that Americans of all political 
persuasions were already wary of entering. Trump administration officials have 
been a frequent presence on Capitol Hill this week as they try to reassure 
lawmakers that they have the situation under control.

   "We are not going to put American troops in harm's way," Secretary of State 
Marco Rubio told reporters in a raucous news conference at the Capitol Tuesday.

   But six U.S. military members were killed over the weekend in a drone strike 
in Kuwait.

   Trump has also not ruled out deploying U.S. ground troops. He has said he is 
hoping to end the bombing campaign within a few weeks, but his goals for the 
war have shifted from regime change to stopping Iran from developing nuclear 
capabilities to crippling its navy and missile programs.

   "I think they are achieving great success with what they've done so far," 
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday, adding that what happens next 
in the country will be "largely up to the Iranian people."

   Almost all Republican senators were readying to vote Wednesday against the 
war powers resolution to halt military action, but a number still expressed 
hesitation at the idea of deploying troops on the ground in Iran.

   "I don't think the American people want to see troops on the ground," said 
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., as he exited a classified briefing Tuesday. He added 
that Trump administration officials "left open that possibility," but it wasn't 
an option they were emphasizing.

   Lawmakers to go on record

   The votes in Congress this week represented potentially consequential 
markers of just where lawmakers stand on the war as they look ahead to midterm 
elections and the consequences of the conflict.

   "Nobody gets to hide and give the president an easy pass or an end-run 
around the Constitution," said Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat leading 
the war powers resolution. "Everybody's got to declare whether they're for this 
war or against it."

   Republican leaders have successfully, though narrowly, defeated a series of 
war powers resolutions pertaining to several other conflicts that Trump has 
entered or threatened to enter. This one, however, is different.

   Unlike Trump's military campaigns against alleged drug boats or even 
Venezuelan leader Nicols Maduro, the attack on Iran represents an open-ended 
conflict that is already ricocheting across the region. For Republicans who are 
used to operating in a political party dominated by Trump and his promises of 
keeping the U.S. out of foreign entanglements, the moment represented a bit of 
whiplash.

   "War is ugly, it always has been ugly, but we're taking out a regime that 
has been trying to attack us for quite some time," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, 
an Oklahoma Republican.

   Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has long 
pushed Trump to engage overseas, argued that the widening conflict represented 
an opportunity for Arab and European countries to join in the fight against 
Iran and the militant groups it supports.

   "I don't mind people being on record as to whether or not they think this is 
a good idea," he told reporters, but also argued that too much power over the 
military was ceded to Congress in the War Powers Act, which mandates that 
presidents must withdraw troops from a conflict within 90 days if there is no 
congressional authorization.

   House vote looms

   On the other side of the Capitol, House leaders were also readying for an 
intense debate over the war followed by a vote Thursday.

   "I do believe we have the votes to defeat it, I certainly hope we do," House 
Speaker Mike Johnson said after an all-member briefing on Tuesday night.

   Meanwhile, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expected a strong 
showing from Democrats in favor of the war powers resolution.

   As lawmakers emerged from a closed-door briefing Tuesday night, Rep. Gregory 
Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, implored the 
Trump administration to "come to Congress" and speak directly to the American 
people about the rationale for the war.

   His voice filled with emotion as he said, "Our young men and women's lives 
are on the line."