Sen. Josh Hawley said he would oppose a bipartisan resolution to require President Donald Trump to get Congress’ sign-off before taking additional military action against Iran.
The Missouri Republican, who drew Trump’s wrath earlier this year when he initially supported a similar resolution for Venezuela, said he was satisfied with the official notification the administration sent Monday to Capitol Hill, which asserted no ground troops are involved in the Iran operation.
“I’ve always said that committed ground troops would be something I think that would require immediately a congressional authorization, but that doesn’t seem to be in the immediate horizon,” Hawley said.
Asked about Trump not ruling out the possibility of ground operations in his public statements, Hawley said he “can understand why he wouldn’t want to rule anything in or out.”
He added it would be a “different scenario” if ground troops are deployed at a later date.
Hawley has advocated in the past for a more restrained U.S. foreign policy. He voted to advance a resolution that would put limits on Trump’s ability to take further action against Venezuela following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump lashed out at Hawley and the other four Republicans who voted to advance the measure, which ultimately failed after Hawley and Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) switched their votes after Rubio offered reassurances about group troops not being deployed in Venezuela.
The Senate will likely vote Wednesday on a bipartisan resolution to require congressional signoff for additional military action against Iran. With Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) expected to oppose the resolution, Democrats will need to pick up at least five Republicans to pass the resolution.
Several GOP senators who have flirted with checking Trump’s war powers, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Young, either declined to comment Monday about how they would vote on the resolution or said they were undecided.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who voted against the Venezuela resolution, also said that he is undecided on the Iran war powers resolution.
“Obviously if we’re going to be there over time in a sustained effort, then we’ve got to have a consultation with Congress,” Tillis said. “If it’s a Venezuela — done and out by the end of the week — that’d be one thing because you’d be passing a war powers resolution after the conflict is over.”
Calen Razor contributed to this report.
