4 Republicans to back Senate war powers resolution, giving it a majority

last updated 14 January 2020

It looks like the Senate will pass a resolution to restrict President Trump's military authority on Iran, following a similar vote from the House last week.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who introduced the resolution, said Tuesday he has the 51 votes necessary to get it passed. It's a bipartisan effort, considering there are only 47 Democrats in Congress' upper chamber. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined three of her GOP colleagues — Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — who had already announced they would back Kaine's bill.

The resolution came about after Trump approved an airstrike in Iraq earlier this month that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, heightening already-simmering tensions between Tehran and Washington. Things have cooled down since then, but Congress is still trying to ensure the country isn't rushed into a major conflict. "This should be the hardest decision we make," Kaine said. "And because we're going to be ordering young men and women to risk their lives, we shouldn't do it unless we have the guts to have the debate." Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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