Democrats vow to flood Senate floor with war powers resolutions ‘every week’

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer is leading Democrats to bring multiple war powers resolutions to the floor in an attempt to force President Trump to seek congressional approval for further military action in Iran.

“Starting this week, we will bring a war powers resolution to the floor. And if Republicans block it, we will vote again and again and again until this war ends or Congress does its job and holds the administration accountable,” Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, said during a Tuesday press conference.

He said Democrats will bring war powers resolutions to the floor every week, adding that he believes 10 have been filed so far. Mr. Schumer was joined by Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Andy Kim of New Jersey and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

He said that Ms. Duckworth will bring a war powers resolution to the floor Wednesday, and Ms. Baldwin will propose it next week, and so on.

The House and Senate have repeatedly failed to pass limits on the president’s military authority in Iran since the war began Feb. 28.

Ms. Baldwin laid out her opinion bluntly: “I don’t know how else to put this. This war has been a disaster, a total and complete disaster.”

“Americans are paying the price because of this war,” she added, citing the rising cost of gas and fertilizer. “And it is abundantly clear that the president has not even a shred of a plan for how we get out of this mess. So, we need to do it for him.”

She said her colleagues will force the Senate to vote on a war powers resolution, and if Republicans “won’t wake up and smell the coffee this week, we will force these votes again and again and again until either Congress finally does its job to be a check on this president or he comes to his senses and stops this war.”

Mr. Kim said he went to the Pentagon after coming back from a two-week congressional recess and asked for a briefing about this war. “And the answer I got was no,” he said.

He said that he is filing four war powers resolutions to be taken up in the coming weeks if the conflict in Iran continues.