Virginia Rep. Eugene Vindman (D) joined nearly a dozen House Democrats who are veterans to support a war powers resolution in the wake of recent U.S. strikes against Iran.
“We write firstmost as Patriots who love our country. Each and every one of us wore the uniform with pride. Each and every one of us was ready and willing to lay down our lives to protect our fellow Americans, and to support and defend our Constitution,” a Monday letter from the group of Democrats reads.
“With that in mind, we want to thank our troops for their bravery, from the B-2 pilots to those stationed across the USCENTCOM Area of Responsibility. We also write as Veterans.”
The letter, addressed to President Trump, features the signatures of the following Democratic Reps.
- Pat Ryan (N.Y.)
- Gil Cisneros (Calif.)
- Eugene Vindman (Va.)
- Chris Deluzio (Pa.)
- Bobby Scott (Va.)
- Jimmy Panetta (Calif.)
- Derek Tran (Calif.)
- Herb Conaway (N.J.)
- Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.)
- Maggie Goodlander (N.H.)
- Salud Carbajal (Calif.)
- Ted Lieu (Calif.)
Last week, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced a war powers resolution last week that would require Trump to end “the use” of U.S. armed forces in Iran without congressional approval.
“We must continue to stand strongly with our Israeli allies — including active and robust support for the defense of the state of Israel and its people, as we have for decades. But we must be very clear; American-led, offensive military operations against Iran — including Saturday night’s preventive air strikes — are different,” the lawmakers said in their letter.
“We all swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Article 1 Section 8 explicitly requires a vote by Congress to declare war. In recognition of that clear and sacred Constitutional duty, we will all be supporting a War Powers Resolution,” the group added.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday asserted that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, pushing back forcefully against the lawmakers in both parties who are invoking the law in an effort to block President Trump from further military action in Iran.
“Many respected constitutional experts argue that the War Powers Act is itself unconstitutional. I’m persuaded by that argument,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol. “They think it’s a violation of the Article II powers of the commander in chief. I think that’s right.”
