Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that she would move ahead with a vote on legislation to curtail Trump’s war powers against Iran, with the House slated to vote Thursday on the resolution that was announced Sunday.
“Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the administration’s decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Our concerns were not addressed by the president’s insufficient War Powers Act notification and by the administration’s briefing today.”
Pelosi sent a letter Sunday to her caucus detailing the resolution, which would reassert “Congress’s long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days.”
She also tasked freshman representative Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) to draft the legislation. Slotkin is a former CIA employee and Defense Department analyst who specialized in Shia militias.
In interviews earlier this week, Slotkin appeared to say she would support a war with Iran if the intelligence assessment proved correct.
“If we are under imminent threat, we should go, and that’s exactly why I want to know the basis of that,” Slotkin told Morning Joe on Monday. “I’m open-minded, but so far I have not seen that strategic look.”
On Wednesday, Pelosi said that the House may also vote on a pair of amendments to further constrain the president’s powers, which were initially included in the annual defense policy bill passed last month, but were ultimately stripped out — including one that would repeal the justification used by the Trump administration to legitimize its killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.