Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said on Saturday that President Trump’s renewed strikes on Iran are a violation of the War Powers Resolution that has been passed by both the House and the Senate.
“These strikes are a blatant violation of the War Powers Resolution that we passed,” Khanna wrote on X. “Trump must stop this war now — or we will take him to court to compel him to do so.”
Last week, the Senate approved a House-passed concurrent War Powers Resolution directing President Trump to end hostilities against Iran, marking the first time Congress has approved a concurrent resolution under the 1973 War Powers Act.
In previous years, Congress has passed joint resolutions directing the president to end wars, such as the 2019 bill to end US support for the Saudi war in Yemen, which President Trump vetoed at the time, but a concurrent resolution doesn’t require the president’s signature.
Section 5(c) of the 1973 War Powers Act states that “at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution.”
President Trump has called the passage of the concurrent resolution “meaningless” and convinced some Senate Republicans to flip their position and not support another War Powers bill, which was voted on and defeated in the Senate two days after the concurrent resolution was passed. But the second War Powers vote doesn’t negate the concurrent resolution, and proponents of the War Powers effort say the resolution means Trump is legally bound not to attack Iran without congressional authorization.
“Congress passed the first War Powers Resolution in history, legally compelling an end to war on Iran. This means Trump’s strikes today are an unprecedented Constitutional violation,” Just Foreign Policy, a nonpartisan foreign policy advocacy group that supports the War Powers effort, wrote on X.
“Trump must be taken to court to honor the American people’s demand that we exit this war — NOW,” the group added.
