Trump just sent letters to Congress claiming he doesn’t need authorization for the Iran war because there’s a ceasefire. The 60-day clock under the War Powers Resolution? He says it stopped when the shooting stopped. That’s not how the law works.
The 1973 War Powers Resolution doesn’t have a ceasefire exception. It doesn’t say hostilities “pause.” It says the president has 60 days to get congressional authorization or end the military operation. The clock runs from the day Congress was notified (March 2) and today is day 60.
Trump also told reporters he didn’t need authorization because “nobody’s ever sought it before.” That’s just false. George H.W. Bush got authorization before the Gulf War. George W. Bush got it before invading Iraq. The precedent he’s citing doesn’t exist.
The Senate has now voted six times to reject a war powers resolution. Republicans keep covering for a war that was launched without a single congressional vote, against a country that had not attacked the United States.
A ceasefire is not a conclusion. U.S. forces are still in the region. The Navy is still blockading Iranian ports. The threat, in Trump’s own words, “remains significant.” That is not what a terminated conflict looks like. Congress has one job here decide whether this country is at war, or send our troops home.
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