Rep. Mike Levin Votes Yes on War Powers Resolution to Rein in Trump’s Unauthorized War on Iran
Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) voted in favor of the War Powers Resolution to end the Trump Administration's unauthorized military campaign in Iran. The resolution invokes the War Powers Act of 1973 to require the President to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran unless and until Congress explicitly authorizes the conflict through a declaration of war or a specific authorization to use military force. Rep. Levin released the following statement after his vote:
“Today, I voted for the War Powers Resolution to end the Trump Administration's unauthorized military campaign in Iran.
“On February 28th, President Trump launched ‘major combat operations’ against Iran in the middle of night, without a declaration of war, without an authorization from Congress, and without a coherent explanation to the American people of what he intends to achieve or how it ends. He described the operation himself as ‘massive and ongoing.' Those are not the words of a president exercising limited emergency authority. Those are the words of a president who believes he can take this country to war alone.
“Article I is not a suggestion. It is the supreme law of the land. The Framers did not vest the power to declare war in a single executive because they understood, with clarity born of hard experience, what happens when unchecked power meets the temptation of military force. They gave that power to Congress — to the people's representatives — precisely so that no one person could make this nation's gravest decision alone. The Trump Administration has been content to reduce Congress to an afterthought, as if the power to take this nation to war is theirs alone to wield. That is not how our democracy works.
“I represent the Marines and Sailors at Camp Pendleton. There is no vote I take more seriously than one that determines whether our service members are sent into harm's way. They deserve a Commander-in-Chief who takes that responsibility seriously too, and a Congress that refuses to look the other way when the Constitution is ignored.
“Preventing Iranian nuclear proliferation is a serious objective. The Iranian regime has been a threat to American national security since 1979. I want to see a free, democratic future for the Iranian people, and I stand with the brave Iranians who have been fighting for exactly that. But I refuse to accept that the path to those goals runs through an open-ended, unauthorized regional war that has already cost American lives and that this Administration cannot coherently explain.
“Donald Trump ran for president promising to end wars. He launched this one without authorization, without a full strategy, and with open contempt for the congressional oversight the Constitution requires. I voted today to reassert what the Constitution has always required: that in this democracy, no one person decides when this nation goes to war. Not now. Not ever.”