Republican senators are pressing the Trump administration to offer a clearer plan and more information about the Iran war after three U.S. service members were killed and dozens were wounded in renewed attacks in recent days.
Several lawmakers said Monday that Congress should no longer remain on the sidelines and that the White House needs to explain where the conflict is headed.
“It looked like things were tapering off, and now things look like they’re heating up,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, told NOTUS.
The fighting intensified over the weekend after Iranian attacks killed two U.S. soldiers at a base in Jordan. A third service member was killed in Iraq during the controlled detonation of an Iranian drone. The U.S. military said Monday it was carrying out a 10th consecutive night of strikes against Iran. Trump vowed further retaliation Monday.
Cassidy said the latest escalation warrants congressional briefings, individual briefings and “the president speaking to the American people about it, explaining the circumstances,”
“I think some sort of authorization of force should be part of that,” Cassidy said, before stopping short of endorsing formally adopting an AUMF. “I just know Congress needs to be involved.”
Adding to the troubles is that gas prices are on the rise once again. Prices per gallon eclipsed $4.50 on average in May, but that figure was on the decline until July 4th. Since then, gas prices have sharply increased to nearly $4 per gallon as Iran has again choked off the Strait of Hormuz.
“That, to me, is the key consideration in all of this,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters. “That’s going to be key to all these economic questions that have been raised.”
No briefing from administration officials appears imminent. Thune told NOTUS that he does not expect a briefing this week.
“I don’t know that I expect to,” Thune told NOTUS. “Anytime where we’ve got kinetic activity over there, regular updates are helpful.”
Some new information could come tomorrow. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chair of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, where they are expected to answer questions about the Trump administration’s $87.6 billion supplemental request for Iran war funding.
Sen. John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, said Congress should be more involved in approving the war.
“I think it’s clear that it is time for Congress to act,” Curtis said. “And that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily acting, constraining the president, but in fact defining what this looks like.”
Curtis said Congress should consider a formal declaration of war on a narrower authorization for specific military action.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said the renewed fighting on July 10 started a new 60-day clock under the War Powers Resolution.
“My 60-day clock is ticking.” Tillis said.
But not every Republican calling for a clearer plan wants restraint.
Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, said the administration needs a strategy to break the cycle of Iranian attacks and U.S. retaliation beyond “just hoping for a diplomatic outcome.”
“It may very well mean having a plan to militarily resolve this situation,” Rounds said. He added that senators should receive classified briefings.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, echoed Round’s call for a more decisive approach.
“I just hope we go ahead and finish the job in Iran,” Wicker said.
At issue for members is the timeline. The fighting in Iran kicked off in late February, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle wanting a swift resolution to the war that Trump and administration officials insisted would only go on for a matter of weeks, not months.
The “memorandum of understanding” last month brought a temporary halt to activity between the two sides, but has since been brushed aside, leading to the renewed hostilities and worrying lawmakers.
“We’ve lost soldiers. That’s a new, very concerning, sad development,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia. “The escalation’s concerning.”
“You don’t know which way it’s going to go,” she added.
Meanwhile, Democrats plan to force another vote in the Senate this week to cut off hostilities with Iran, aiming to put added pressure on vulnerable Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections. Last month, four Republican senators broke party lines to support a similar war powers resolution, which was symbolic and not legally binding.
“Trump needs to stop this catastrophe and bring our troops home, and Senate Republicans can’t let him off the hook until he does,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech Monday announcing the vote.
Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, urged Republicans who have concerns about the war to join Democrats in voting for the measure and fulfill their responsibilities as a coequal branch of government.
“You can’t be against this war and then keep voting to fund the war, and you can’t be against this war and keep rejecting these war powers resolutions,” Schatz told NOTUS.
Senate Democrats also blocked an effort to begin debate on the annual defense policy bill last week in protest of the Iran war.
“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.
This story is provided by a partnership between Mississippi Today and the NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative, which seeks to help readers in local communities understand what their elected representatives are doing in Congress.
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