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Congress left Washington, D.C., without flexing its legal muscle against President Donald Trump’s Iran war, despite growing concern among Republicans about what comes next in the Middle East.
The 60-day deadline, enshrined into law by the War Powers Act Resolution, requires that Congress authorize or halt the war. That mark came and went Friday while lawmakers were back home.
While Senate Democrats have voted six times in lockstep to handcuff Trump’s war powers in Iran, Republicans broadly have not wanted to interfere with the administration’s plans.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he didn’t see a desire from most Republicans to take action on the deadline and noted that lawmakers were getting “readouts from our military leadership on a somewhat regular basis” to guide their decision-making.
Still, some Republicans want to put guardrails on Trump when Congress returns.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has been working on an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that she described as more than an authorization, but also a “restraint.”
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“If we pass this 60-day mark from the start of hostilities with still a lack of a credible plan and information from the administration, it is one — it is something that I intend to introduce once the Senate reconvenes here,” Murkowski said.
Trump wrote to congressional leaders on Friday that he never needed their say-so and noted that hostilities in Iran — despite scant skirmishes and an ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — had been “terminated.”
“On April 7, 2026, I ordered a two-week ceasefire,” Trump wrote. “The ceasefire has since been extended. There has been no exchange of fire between the United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026. The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated.”
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Democrats contend that a ceasefire doesn’t mean that the war is over.
“The ceasefire just means bombs aren’t dropping,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Fox News Digital. “It doesn’t mean that the war’s not on. I mean, we’re still using the U.S. Navy to block anything going into and out of any port in Iran. That’s war. We would consider — if somebody was doing it to us, that’s war.”
Without action from Congress on last week’s deadline, the Trump administration now has 30 days to wind down military actions in Iran absent authorization from lawmakers.
If the administration doesn’t follow through with that requirement, Democrats have signaled taking legal action. But some don’t see that as a winning strategy, given the likelihood that the Supreme Court would side with Trump.
“It’s hard for me to imagine them constraining this president and his war-making power in any way,” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said. “So I would not want the country to have to rely on this Supreme Court.”
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