{"id":51505,"date":"2026-02-20T09:21:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=51505"},"modified":"2026-02-20T09:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:23:01","slug":"reps-ro-khanna-and-thomas-massie-plan-to-force-war-powers-vote-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=51505","title":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Reps Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie to force war powers vote on Iran<\/b><\/h2>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more-->by Emily Brooks<br \/>\nTHE HILL<\/p>\n<p>Reps.\u00a0<span class=\"person-popover disable-hover\" data-nid=\"19733\"><a class=\"person-popover__link\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/ro-khanna\/\">Ro Khanna\u00a0<\/a><\/span>(D-Calif.) and\u00a0<span class=\"person-popover disable-hover\" data-nid=\"24687\"><a class=\"person-popover__link\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/thomas-massie\/\">Thomas Massie\u00a0<\/a><\/span>(R-Ky.) plan to move next week to force a vote on a resolution to require authorization from Congress before President Trump can use military force against Iran.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump officials say there\u2019s a 90% chance of strikes on Iran. He can\u2019t without Congress,\u201d Khanna said Wednesday in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RoKhanna\/status\/2024259912197460101\">post on the social platform X<\/a>. \u201c@RepThomasMassie &amp; I have a War Powers Resolution to debate &amp; vote on war before putting U.S. troops in harm\u2019s way. I will make a motion to discharge to force a vote on it next week.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<div class=\"ad-unit__content\">\n<div id=\"acm-ad-tag-mr1_ab-mr1_ab\" data-slot=\"{&quot;is_oop&quot;:false,&quot;is_companion&quot;:true,&quot;sizes&quot;:[[[1280,0],[[300,250],[620,366]]],[[1024,0],[[300,250],[620,366]]],[[768,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]],[[641,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]]],&quot;size&quot;:[300,250]}\" data-unit=\"\/5678\/nx.thehill\/news\/house\" data-fbonly=\"false\" data-refids=\"\" data-not-refids=\"\" data-targeting=\"{&quot;kw&quot;:&quot;5745037-khanna-massie-war-powers-iran&quot;,&quot;pos&quot;:&quot;mr1_ab&quot;,&quot;fold&quot;:&quot;atf&quot;,&quot;category&quot;:&quot;house&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In the closely divided House, the vote could be very close. Republicans can afford no more than one GOP defection on any party-line vote, assuming all members are present and voting, and absences can change that margin.<\/p>\n<div class=\"nexstar-minutemedia-player-container\" data-minutemedia-viewport=\"mobile\" data-player-id=\"k036p9v5\" data-stn-player=\"\" data-s2n-api=\"minuteMediaS2NApi\"><\/div>\n<p>The U.S. has built up warships and other military forces near Iran, even as it engages in talks about limiting Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Trump last week said that regime change in Iran \u201cwould be the best thing that could happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Khanna pointed to his resolution with Massie,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/house-concurrent-resolution\/38\/text\">H. Con. Res. 38<\/a>, that was introduced in June 2025 during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, before the U.S. struck Iran\u2019s nuclear sites. It has 76 other Democratic co-sponsors, and no other Republican co-sponsors.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution directs the president to \u201cterminate the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any part of its government or military, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran.\u201d It clarifies that the resolution would not prevent the U.S. from defending itself, or disrupt U.S. intelligence gathering and sharing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongress must vote on war according to our Constitution. @RepRoKhanna and I will be forcing that vote to happen in the House as soon as possible,\u201d Massie\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/repthomasmassie\/status\/2024283215083548801?s=46\">added on X<\/a>. \u201cI will vote to put America first which means voting against more war in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>War powers resolutions are privileged parliamentary procedures in the House and Senate, allowing members to bypass House Republican leaders to force floor votes on the matter.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<div class=\"ad-unit__content\">\n<div id=\"acm-ad-tag-mr2_ab-mr2_ab\" data-slot=\"{&quot;is_oop&quot;:false,&quot;is_companion&quot;:true,&quot;sizes&quot;:[[[1280,0],[[300,250],[620,366]]],[[1024,0],[[300,250],[620,366]]],[[768,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]],[[641,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]]],&quot;size&quot;:[300,250]}\" data-unit=\"\/5678\/nx.thehill\/news\/house\" data-fbonly=\"false\" data-refids=\"\" data-not-refids=\"\" data-targeting=\"{&quot;kw&quot;:&quot;5745037-khanna-massie-war-powers-iran&quot;,&quot;pos&quot;:&quot;mr2_ab&quot;,&quot;fold&quot;:&quot;atf&quot;,&quot;category&quot;:&quot;house&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>But while Democrats have moved to force several such votes, they have not been successful.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, the House\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/5702037-venezuela-war-powers-resolution-house-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">narrowly voted down a resolution<\/a>\u00a0designed to limit Trump\u2019s ability to use military power in Venezuela. Republicans successfully blocked the measure in a 215-215 vote. Two Republicans \u2014 Massie and Rep.\u00a0<span class=\"person-popover disable-hover\" data-nid=\"40986\"><a class=\"person-popover__link\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/don-bacon\/\">Don Bacon\u00a0<\/a><\/span>(Neb.) \u2014 joined all 213 Democrats in voting for the measure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike the votes before the Iraq war, this could be one of the most consequential votes in the history of Congress. Are we going to stop another endless dumb foreign war? Or will the neoconservatives mislead us once again?\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n<p>____<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/5745037-khanna-massie-war-powers-iran\/\">https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/5745037-khanna-massie-war-powers-iran\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}