Steve Benen is a producer for 'The Rachel Maddow Show,' the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of 'Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past.'
Last week, The Washington Post reported that many Senate Democrats were concerned that Donald Trump was “considering striking Iran without seeking authorization from Congress — or even filling them in on his plans.
” Those fears were well grounded: Two days later, the president ordered preemptive airstrikes against Iranian targets, without congressional authorization and without informing key Democratic officials. Ahead of the offensive, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia introduced a war powers resolution designed to limit the use of the U.S. armed forces against Iran without congressional approval. Six days after the airstrikes, the Senate took up the measure — privileged resolutions reach the floor, whether the majority’s leadership likes it or not — and it was not subject to the 60-vote filibuster rule. In other words, all Kaine’s proposal needed was a simple majority. He didn’t get one. The 53-47 vote opposing the resolution fell mostly on party lines — with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as the only senators to break with their own sides. At this point, the effort might appear moot. After all, the strikes already happened, and the White House has already effectively declared “mission accomplished.” But it’s not quite that simple. After Trump administration officials provided a closed-door briefing to the entire Senate on the Iran strikes — a presentation that did not resolve the underlying political debate — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer quickly turned his attention to the debate over Kaine’s proposal. “Anybody who sat in that and is honest with themselves would recognize that we need to enforce the War Powers Act and force the administration to provide answers to some very important questions about Iran and our national security,” the New York Democrat said. “When the administration is forced to answer questions, we’ll get more clarity, and maybe they’ll get more clarity, too. So it’s an important thing to do.” What’s more, despite the recent chatter about Saturday’s mission being a “one-and-done” operation, the president himself continues to make clear that he’s prepared to launch additional strikes as he — and he alone — sees fit. Ahead of the vote, The New Republic’s Greg Sargent argued that if the Senate rejected the resolution, it would “only embolden Trump at a time when he is clearly growing more unhinged, power-crazed, and deaf to outside voices.” Hours later, senators missed an opportunity to apply some checks and balances on a White House that needs to be checked and balanced.
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