With no end in sight to President Donald Trumpâs illegal war with Iran, Congress is being urged to take legal action to bring the conflict to an end.
Jamal Abdi, executive director at National Iranian American Council (NIAC) Action, said on Wednesday that Congress must go to court to enforce the war powers resolution that passed in the House and the Senate earlier this year.
Dear Chairmen Wicker and Rogers and Ranking Members Reed and Smith,
As you enter into conference to resolve the differences between the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2027 (H.R.8800) and the pending Senate bill (S.4784), We, the undersigned U.S. organizations, strongly urge you to reject the entrenchment of U.S. and Israeli defense collaboration, which goes against U.S. national interests and values, and would expand the risk of U.S. complicity in, and exposure to, human rights violations, war crimes, and genocide.
Specifically, we are deeply concerned by Section 219 in the House NDAA and Section 1217 in the Senate version, which establish a new U.S. Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative aimed at accelerating joint research, development, and integration of Israeli-origin and jointly developed defense technologies into U.S. military systems and programs of record. This would expand U.S-Israeli military integration across some of the most sensitive domains of emerging technology, including quantum computing, AI and autonomous systems, cyber and electronic warfare, directed energy, and defense industrial base co-production, while expediting pathways from R&D into procurement.
The provision would deepen cooperation between the US and Israeli defence sectors by accelerating joint military technology development and other partnerships. The bill passed the House of Representatives in July and awaits Senate action.
The provision of the 2027 National Defence Authorisation Act, known as Section 219, seeks to set up frameworks for joint ventures, licensing agreements and US-based co-production partnerships with the Israeli industry.
In Thursday‘s letter addressed to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, 56 groups said deeper integration with Israel‘s defence sector would be „exceptionally dangerous“ and urged lawmakers to remove the provision.
September 2, 2026
Washington, DC — Marking one year since the Trump administrationâs first boat strike, U.S. Representatives Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee; Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced a War Powers Resolution today to block the administration from continuing to use U.S. Armed Forces to conduct strikes in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
âOne year ago today, the Trump administration launched a campaign of extrajudicial killings, using the U.S. military and taxpayer dollars to execute at least 227 individuals without due process or a credible national-security justification. The administration calls this counternarcotics. However, it remains unclear whether these operations have made any real difference in stemming the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, and they were never authorized by Congress. A year later, the administration has little to show for this lawless campaign except a mounting body count, a massive price tag, and a stain on the American conscience.
In Just One Year, the Trump Administrationâs Bombing Campaign Has Killed at Least 227 People, Including Fishermen and Farmhands
(August 28, 2026)
(August 31, 2026)
In his address, Merkley outlined the severe consequences of the conflict, saying it has failed to control nuclear materials while at the same time has strengthened Iranian hardliners, fractured alliances, and enriched Russia. He also highlighted the human and military costs, pointing to deaths and injuries among U.S. service members and depleted domestic munitions.
Since the start of the war on February 28th, 18 service members have died and 757 have been wounded. Furthermore, Merkley warned that the war is financially pressing Americans against the wall as skyrocketing gas, diesel, and fertilizer prices hit families and farmers hard.
There is a point in the decline of republics when the problem is no longer that government breaks its own laws. Governments will always behave unlawfully. The deeper problem comes when the constitutional machinery designed to prevent those acts stops functioning â when spending becomes detached from arithmetic, presidential power becomes detached from law and Congress and the courts become detached from the Constitution.
Thatâs where America is today.
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The twilight of our constitutional republic has not arrived because the sun suddenly disappeared. It has arrived because, little by little, nearly everyone became accustomed to the darkness.
(May 21, 2026)
Theyâre mad at Massie. Why? One Republican out of 217 who hasnât taken money from the Israeli lobby. Why are they so mad at him? Why was it so important for the Israeli lobby to spend tens of millions of dollars to crush this guy?
It wasnât stopping really the status quo in any way. He did help get some of the Epstein files released, and God bless him for that. He tried his hardest. But one man against 216 other members of his party is not going to get very far by definition, so why donât you just leave him alone? Why force the issue?
(July 27, 2026)
The War Powers Resolution was passed by both the House and Senate in June, marking the first time Congress approved a concurrent resolution under the 1973 War Powers Act directing the termination of an unauthorized war.
Section 5(c) of the 1973 War Powers Act states that âat 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.â
(July 27, 2026)
Massie accused Trump and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth of being „in blatant violation of two sections of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.“
„For the first time since the law was enacted, a concurrent resolution has passed in accordance with 5(c) of the law, but the White House has ignored it. It seems theyâve assumed the law is unconstitutional, but no court has ever found that to be the case, so the law remains on the books while the White House flouts it. In the 1983 case INS v. Chadha, the Supreme Court did not opine on the 1973 War Powers Resolution. Itâs time for the courts to settle this, and thatâs what our legislation directs,“ Massie said.
Congress has not authorized Trumpâs Iran war. Until lawmakers either define and limit the mission or stop paying for it, troops and civilians will remain trapped between a president claiming the power to continue and a legislature unwilling to take responsibility for ending it.
The Senate rejected the latest attempt to rein in President Trump‘s war powers in Iran on Thursday, soon after the House adopted a separate measure rebuking the president amid escalations in the conflict in recent days.
In a 47 to 49 vote, one Republican â Susan Collins of Maine â joined Democrats in voting to advance the measure. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to oppose. Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky, who have previously supported similar war powers efforts, did not vote.
Thursday‘s vote is largely symbolic, and the resolution will not go to Trumpâs desk for signature if the Senate chamber were also to pass it.
But Democrats‘ war powers effort underscores that the war in Iran is continuing to divide Republicans, several of whom have complained the White House has not given enough visibility to Congress about the militaryâs actions.
Just 34% of voters approve of Trump‘s handling of Iran, according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday.
The 214-208 vote requiring congressional approval for the war comes as the Senate is expected to consider a similar resolution later Thursday morning. Though the votes forced by Democrats are largely symbolic, they are meant as a strong signal to the Republican president that his support on Capitol Hill is chipping away as the war drags on and lawmakers in both parties have questioned his administrationâs endgame.
The war has had âno clear mission, no strategy, no end goal,â said Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat who led the resolution on the House floor.
7:11 PM · Jul 21, 2026
12:49 AM · Jul 22, 2026
The House on Tuesday approved a procedural vote to advance the $1.15 trillion 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a section to further integrate the US and Israeli militaries, a plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said was his idea.
The rule to allow floor debate and a vote on the NDAA and several pieces of legislation passed in a 214-211 vote, and a final vote on the Houseâs version of the NDAA is expected to take place on Wednesday. The procedural step came after the House Rules Committee denied a vote on an amendment introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to strip Section 219, the Israeli integration plan, from the bill.
Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked the advancement of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, citing President Trumpâs war with Iran, which continues to rage following the collapse of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.
The NDAA would provide the Pentagon with over $1.1 trillion in funding as part of the White Houseâs plan for a $1.5 trillion military budget for 2027, a nearly 50% increase from this year. The bill also includes an amendment, Section 1217, to further merge the US and Israeli militaries under a plan being pushed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A procedural vote of 50-46 fell well short of the 60 votes that it needed to advance the NDAA. Every Democrat, except two who werenât present for the vote â Senators Jon Fetterman (PA) and Alex Padilla (CA) â voted against advancing the sprawling military spending bill.
(July 13, 2026)
The House provision, which has a Senate version known as Section 1217, would also forbid the president of the United States from limiting intelligence collaboration with Israel over its human rights abuses. If the President ever wants to limit such collaboration, he or she must tell Congress and can only cite American national security as a basis.
In other words, these bills would connect the US and Israeli militaries in unprecedented ways and make it exceedingly difficult for any future president to unwind this partnership with a foreign government.
(June 16, 2026)
Buried in the US$1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act is a provision that would deepen US military cooperation with Israel while walling that cooperation off from further congressional oversight.
Section 219 (formerly section 224) creates the role of an âexecutive agentâ focused on folding Israeli technology into US weapons programs, and vice versa, including in missile and air defense technologies as well as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cyberwarfare, and autonomous systems. Once implemented, the provision would speed efforts to embed Israeli technologies into US weapons systems in ways almost never codified into law, even for allies. As the protracted experience with unwinding Turkish participation in the F-35 program shows, practically, integration binds the United States to rely on producers in ways that become next to impossible to walk back later, even if lawmakers want to.
(…)
Section 219 also calls for âdata fusion.â In defense doctrine, data fusion means combining feeds from many sensors and intelligence sources into a single targeting picture. The United States would be absorbing Israeli data, which may have been collected under problematic mass surveillance programs. Moreover, section 219 would be reinforced by section 622 of the intelligence appropriations bill, which mandates intelligence sharing and would further promote combining US intelligence streams with Israeli ones that could then be used by the Israeli military for targeting.
(June 9, 2026)
However, legal experts said the issue is not settled law. No concurrent resolution under âthe 1973 war powers law had passed since the law was enacted.
„The executive branch will likely ignore it on constitutional grounds, and itâs not clear who might have âstanding to sue to enforce it,“ said Scott Anderson, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and senior editor of the online legal publication Lawfare, although he added that he expected someone âwould.
Danielle Pletka, a distinguished senior fellow in foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute, said Trump has a military plan on his desk that U.S. commanders believe could force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without making any major concessions to its theocratic regime.
âThe president has had on his desk for months now a 10- to 14-day plan that would do what was necessary to finish out the mission of the war on Iran. It would take out the remaining missile sites we saw them work on, the remaining parts of their defense-industrial complex, the remaining nuclear [program] and some of the critical [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] emplacements, and do that in a way that Centcom feels would mean we could walk away, not have a deal, and stop worrying about Iran for a little while,â she said.
âWill it take 10 to 14 days? Who knows? Is the president going to follow that plan? Who knows?â she said.
WASHINGTON â The Defense Department was funded with a budget of nearly a trillion dollars, but it is running out of cash, according to three U.S. officials, a former defense official, outside experts and two congressional staff members.
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Two Senate Republicans who supported a previous resolution calling for an end to the US war on Iran changed their votes late Wednesday after President Donald Trump publicly and privately berated GOP lawmakers, calling them âlosersâ who provided âaid and comfort to the enemy.â
In Wednesdayâs procedural vote, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)âwho reportedly got into a shouting match with Trump over the Iran war during a closed-door lunch hours earlierâsided with virtually every other Republican in opposing the war powers resolution, just a day after he supported a separate, symbolic resolution calling for the removal of US forces from the conflict. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also switched, changing his vote to âpresentâ at the urging of the president.
Updated on: June 24, 2026 / 11:37 PM EDT / CBS News
Later in the day, however, signs emerged that some of the Senate Republicans who had previously voted to constrain Mr. Trump‘s war powers were reconsidering.
Cassidy was briefed on Iran at the White House by Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, the senator confirmed on X, writing that the conversation „address[ed] many of my concerns.“ Cassidy voted against advancing the resolution Wednesday night.
And Paul voted present on Wednesday, despite voting in favor of the last several Iran war powers resolutions. He said on X his goal was to „give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.“
Updated on: June 25, 2026 / 12:07 AM EDT / CBS News
President Trump‘s meeting with Republican senators on Wednesday turned testy, and at one point, he sternly told Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy to sit down, after questions arose about the War Powers Resolution, according to sources directly familiar with the meeting.
Jun 24, 2026 11:30 AM CET)
Trump claims that his war on Iran doesnât need congressional approval because a cease-fire that took effect on April 8 effectively ended it. His Administration also argues that the 1973 law is âunconstitutionalâ and that the Administration only complies with parts of it to maintain good relations with the legislative branch.
Others, however, argue that Congressâ authority over declarations of war allows for the method. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D, N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who sponsored the House war powers resolution, said in a statement that he will make sure that the Administration adheres to it: âRegardless of what President Trump says, this measure is binding under the War Powers Resolution, and I will explore all legal avenues to ensure the Executive complies with the will of Congress.â
Washington, DC — Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today issued a statement following the Senateâs approval of his War Powers Resolution which passed the House of Representatives earlier this month. The Senate passed the Resolution 50-48.
Having passed both chambers as a Concurrent Resolution, this measure does not go to the presidentâs desk for signature. Under the War Powers Resolution, however, it is binding on the president and directs him to cease hostilities against Iran.
âWith the Senate passage of my Iran War Powers Resolution, both chambers have now made clear that the president cannot continue this war of choice and must cease all hostilities against Iran. Regardless of what President Trump says, this measure is binding under the War Powers Resolution, and I will explore all legal avenues to ensure the Executive complies with the will of Congress.
GOP Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy joined Democrats in voting for the resolution, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman voted against it. The final tally was 50-48. The absences of GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell and Dave McCormick, who have previously voted against advancing war powers resolutions, contributed to the measureâs adoption.
If the Senate were to secure those 60 votes and pass the war powers resolution, the chambers would have to work out differences in the text of the bill between the two chambers, which might require additional votes.
If both chambers pass identical versions of a war powers resolution, the measure would still require the president‘s signature to take effect â something that seems unlikely based on Trump‘s commitment to the war so far.
If Trump vetoes it, the House and Senate could override the veto only with two-thirds votes in each chamber, which is well above the support demonstrated so far. No war powers resolution has ever overcome a veto.