Senate Republicans are paving the way for a military escalation against Iran
Michael Arria on July 4, 2019 1 Comments
Mitt Romney. Credit: Gage Skidmore
On June 28, Senate Republicans were able to stop an amendment that would
have required President Trump to seek congressional approval for an attack
on Iran, despite the fact that the majority of votes were cast in support of
the measure. That move wasn't the day's only victory for congressional
hawks, as they were able to further pave the way for a potential military
escalation before Congress recessed for the national holiday.
S.Amdt.883 was introduced by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) as an amendment to the
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense funding bill.
If passed, the legislation would have hypothetically prevented the Trump
administration from spending the appropriated funds on an Iran attack unless
it obtained congressional approval.
The Udall/Kaine amendment received 50 votes. Every Democrat backed it and
four Republicans crossed the aisle to support it: Rand Paul of Kentucky,
Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas. 40 GOP
Senators voted against the legislation, but the ten-vote advantage didn't
matter as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) established that the
amendment needed 60 votes in order to pass. Many headlines framed this
development as the Senate "rejecting" the idea of congressional approval,
despite the fact that the measure would have passed were it not for
McConnell.
"Today, the Senate sent a strong message that President Trump cannot bypass
Congress to start an illegal war with Iran," said co-sponsor Tim Kaine
(D-VA) after the vote. "We didn't reach the 60-vote threshold we needed to
pass it as an amendment to the defense bill, but the vote today demonstrates
bipartisan concern that President Trump might pull our troops into an
unnecessary war."
A day before Republicans blocked the Udall amendment, Utah Senator and
former presidential candidate Mitt Romney introduced a one-sentence
amendment that doubled down on Trump's war powers. SA 861 states that,
"Amounts authorized to be appropriated by this Act may be used to ensure the
ability of the Armed Forces of the United States to defend themselves, and
United States citizens, against attack by the government, military forces,
or proxies of a foreign nation or by other hostile forces."
"We do not need the Udall amendment to tell us what The Constitution already
says: Congress alone can declare war," said Romney on the Senate floor. "His
amendment is clearly intended to limit the President in some other ways,
which he has not yet explained to this body. As it is written, the Udall
amendment would dramatically limit the existing authority that The
Constitution provides the President to respond to Iran. tying the
President's hands in some undefined way in the midst of the current crisis
is misguided, dangerous, and surely sends the wrong message to Iran and our
allies."
At first glance, Romney's amendment is seemingly unnecessary. It doesn't
authorize a strike against Iran, and the point it makes about the military
defending itself is hardly controversial in Washington. The amendment sailed
to an overwhelming and unsurprising victory with only four Senators voting
against it. The only Democratic presidential hopeful to vote NO was New
Jersey Senator Cory Booker. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA),
Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) did not vote.
However, the Romney vote was a symbolic victory for the GOP. As John M.
Donnelly notes at Roll Call, "The Senate is on record rejecting a Democratic
attempt to rebuff the president. And the Senate also overwhelmingly backed a
reaffirmation of Trump's authority as commander in chief in the form of
Romney's amendment. And all of this activity occurred in the context of
passing a defense authorization bill that endorses spending the full $750
billion that Trump had proposed for national defense."
The passage of the NDAA didn't only deliver military funding and symbolic
victories for the GOP, they were also able to quietly push a radical
resolution into the final version of the bill. SEC. 6206 is entitled,
"Expansion of availability of financial assets of Iran to Victims of
Terrorism." The section addresses the 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombings, which
killed 241 U.S. servicemen. The U.S. government has long believed that Iran
backed the attack and in 2012 a federal judge ordered the country to pay out
$813 million to the families of the victims.
The section was part of Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe's substitute
amendment to the NDAA and was inserted via a voice vote without debate or
discussion. It gives U.S. courts unprecedented reach by allowing the
government to legislate sovereignty over foreign banks that contain Iranian
funds.
"[The] issue here isn't whether victims of Marine barracks bombing & their
families deserve justice/compensation," tweeted Foundation for Middle East
Peace President Lara Friedman, "Issue is whether, in drive to achieve this &
to find another way to stick it to Iran, Congress is going to commit another
massive own goal for US interests overall."
This provision has been introduced as an amendment by Republicans in the
House and a House version of the Udall amendment will also be considered
soon.
