Explainer: how a new US Congress could press to end the Iran war

Right · 2Reuters reports that the eight-month-old US war on Iran is unpopular and that voters handed President Donald Trump's Republicans a resounding defeat in last week's congressional elections. 1 2 Right · 1Trump acknowledged that unhappiness about the conflict contributed to his party's losses, but he defends the war, insisting both that he has won it and that it will continue. 1 Right · 2Congress cannot unilaterally end the war but can pressure the president to do so, and the new Congress is scheduled to be sworn in on January 3. 1 2

Right · 1The first lever is funding. Trump has asked for the defense budget to rise from about $950 billion to $1.5 trillion, plus an additional $67 billion for the war. Democrats say they will not approve such a budget next year and have proposed cutting off war funding even before the new Congress is seated, hoping anti-war Republicans or deficit-concerned fiscal hawks might back them. 1 Right · 2The current government funding bill expires on December 11, so Congress must pass a full-year budget or a short-term plan to avoid a shutdown just before Christmas. 1 2 Right · 1House Republican leaders say the party will hold firm behind Trump; Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said a Republican Congress will not send bills to a Republican president that he would veto, so "we'll just wait until next year". 1

Right · 1Once Democrats control Congress they can add clauses to budget bills forbidding funds for hostilities against Iran; Trump could veto them but would again risk a government shutdown and potentially no pay for troops. Congress can also decline to authorize war funding in the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which has passed every year since 1961, so its failure would embarrass both parties. 1 Right · 1The second lever is war powers resolutions. Trump did not secure congressional approval before launching the war with Israel on February 28, and Democrats and a few Republicans have repeatedly voted to end the fighting unless he seeks authorization. One such resolution passed both the House and Senate, but the administration ignored it, and legal experts say there is no consensus on whether it was binding. Democrats expect more votes and promise more legislation once they control both chambers. 1 Right · 1A Reuters/Ipsos poll this month found 71% of Americans, including 93% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans, want Congress to pass legislation ending the conflict. 1

Right · 1Trump is expected to veto any measure to stop the fighting, and overriding a veto takes two-thirds majorities in both chambers, so Democrats would need Republican support. Backers say trying is still worthwhile to send a message, and that sentiment may shift among Republicans if the war drags on. 1 Right · 1The third lever is oversight. An effort led by Republican Representative Thomas Massie and backed mainly by Democrats to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, including for waging the war without congressional approval, failed this week, but Democrats may try again next year. 1 Right · 1Once they chair committees, Democrats can hold hearings, investigate the war's strategy, spending and conduct, and issue subpoenas. Members and committee Democrats are already asking the State and Defense departments to preserve documents, and if the administration refuses to cooperate Congress could withhold officials' travel budgets or, in the Senate, decline to confirm Trump's nominees. 1