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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) expressed concern over President Donald Trump’s compliance with the War Powers Act, which stipulates that Congress must approve military action that lasts longer than 60 days.
Congress has granted no such approval in Trump’s war of choice on Iran.
Trump’s initial war concluded within the 60-day timeframe with a memorandum of understanding that has since “collapsed,” as Murkowski noted. The administration gave formal notice to Congress that it was resuming hostilities with Iran on July 10, restarting the 60-day clock.
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“I’m concerned about this sequence,” Murkowski said. “Because you have a situation where the claim essentially allows the president to extinguish the war powers clock just at the moment that it becomes legally inconvenient through declaration of temporary ceasefire. Then it’s reset, avoiding the congressional authorization that the Constitution requires in the War Powers Act.”
She noted that while “reasonable people can disagree” about presidential authority to wage war, the War Powers Act is “not ambiguous.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, told Murkowski that he and Trump “have all the authorities necessary at this moment” to do as they please in Iran.
