Congress is divided over the war in Iran, with the U.S. Senate voted on a war powers resolution to block further military action — Wisconsin’s two senators, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Democrat U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, each voted along party lines.

U.S. Sen.Tammy Baldwin
D-Wisconsin

• The Trump administration launched an ongoing series of airstrikes on Iran on the morning of Feb. 28. Four days later, the U.S. Senate held a procedural vote on Senate Joint Resolution 104, which would “direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.” This March 4 vote was almost entirely along party lines, with Baldwin voting in favor of the resolution. The following day, the senator spoke to why she would seek to block U.S. military action in Iran.
• Baldwin: “First of all, Americans have been clear they do not want another forever war in the Middle East. They want Congress and this president to be focused on needs at home, addressing the high cost of things like groceries, housing, child care and health care. This president, in fact, promised that he would bring foreign wars to an end, not start them. Let me be very clear. This is a war of choice. The U.S. and U. S. Interests were not under attack, nor were we under imminent threat of attack. And because of that, this is a war of choice, and the president needed to go to Congress to get authorization. It is an illegal war because of his failure to do that. I voted to bring this to an end, and would note, though, that it is the proponents of this war who bear the burden of getting congressional authorization for it, and they have failed to do that. The Constitution makes it the responsibility of Congress, who represent the people. to declare war, and that has not happened. Instead, we are spending billions of dollars each day in this war, and we’re losing the lives of our troops, including six who have lost their lives in this conflict.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson
R-Wisconsin

• A war powers resolution is a procedure in which any member of Congress may put forth a bill or joint resolution to direct the removal of U.S. forces that have been deployed abroad. The joint resolution put forth over the new war in Iran was supported almost entirely by Democrats, and opposed almost entirely by Republicans, including Johnson. A day after this vote, Johnson spoke to why he opposed the resolution.
• Johnson: “We have to recognize Iran has been at war with us for 47 years in a low-grade war. But they have the blood of hundreds, maybe thousands of Americans on their hands, the largest state sponsor of terror. They’ve declared that we are, you know, “Death to America,” “Death to Israel.” They are a menace. They threaten world peace, they threaten regional peace. And at some point in time, we simply weren’t going to be able to deal with them if they became a nuclear power or they build up their missile inventory to such an extent that you couldn’t act. President Trump decided this is the moment to act. You cannot have 535 commanders in chief. Quite honestly, even a full-blown discussion prior to the military action would have completely neutered our ability to take the type of decisive action we’ve taken. So again, the Constitution means something to me. We have a commander in chief. Yes, Congress is charged with declaring war, but we haven’t declared war since World War II and look at all the military interventions from both Republican and Democrat administrations. So, this is the way things are right now, and when information really travels the speed of light, you’ve got to make quick decisions, and that’s why we have a commander in chief.”

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