Senate rejects Kaine effort to set war powers limit on Trump actions in Iran

The Senate voted 53-to-47 Friday evening to defeat a resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that would have directed President Donald Trump to seek approval from Congress before launching further military attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The vote fell along party lines with a couple of notable exceptions. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voted with the Republican majority in opposing the resolution while Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), joined most Democrats in voting for it. 

The resolution was introduced before a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Iran, CBS said in its coverage. 

The Virginia Democrat, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, wrote in the bill’s text for Congress to direct President Donald Trump to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces in Iran unless Congress authorizes it through a declaration of war or a specific military force authorization.

“I am disappointed that many of my colleagues are not willing to stand up and say Congress needs to be part of a decision as important as whether or not the U.S. should send our nation’s sons and daughters to fight against Iran,” Kaine said in a statement following the vote.

Prior to the vote, Kaine wrote that “Congress has the sole power to declare war” under the Constitution, and “Congress has not yet declared war upon, nor enacted a specific statutory authorization for use of military force against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

In other Iran news, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Friday that radiation levels remain normal in the Gulf region after Iran’s nuclear facilities were bombed. The IAEA chief again said nuclear facilities should never be attacked and that IAEA inspectors should be allowed to inspect the sites in Iran. 

According to a transcript of his interview Sunday on CBS Face the Nation, Grossi acknowledged the likelihood some canisters of enrichment uranium and other equipment were removed from the Iran nuclear sites before U.S. attacks.