Democrats are threatening to grind the Senate to a halt until the White House provides answers to Americans about the Iran war.
A group of Senate Democrats said they’re prepared to hold up business on the floor unless senior administration officials testify before key committees, under oath, about the military operation in the Middle East.
Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., joined “Morning Joe” to discuss the Iran war and Democrats’ effort to hold President Donald Trump and his administration accountable.
“The constitution is really plain, you can’t be at war without a vote of Congress,” Kaine told MS NOW. “And sometimes presidents try to say, ‘Well, this was a police action,’ or, ‘It’s too minimal to be war.’ This is a war. President Trump calls it a war, but he’s doing an end-run around Congress and the Constitution.”
Kaine said members of Congress have a constitutional obligation to provide checks and balances, especially when it comes to matters of war.
“We don’t send our sons and daughters into war where they could be killed or badly injured, unless the political leadership casts a vote and says ‘This is so important a national mission that it’s worth risking our kids’ lives for,’” he said.
The Virginia Democrat said he and his colleagues will use a series of new war powers resolutions to “seize the floor.” Although the motions aren’t likely to pass, they could stall businesses as usual in the chamber.
Kaine said they will continue to file those motions until “we can finally get this before the American public in open hearings before the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees.”
“What we’re demanding is what the American people want,” Booker said of the effort.
“You have people sitting at home watching this president drive up their health care costs, drive up their fuel costs, cut their student lunch programs for their kids, cut the VA benefits for people who have been to war and come home, all while now he’s spending billions and billions of dollars on this unilateral decision to go to war,” he added.
Booker said the senators hoped to “bring these leaders before Congress and provide that oversight that is urgent right now when Americans are paying the ultimate sacrifice for Donald Trump’s war.”
The New Jersey Democrat also called out his Republican colleagues, who he said have been “willing to lie down on issues dealing with our military.” He specifically noted the lack of outrage from members across the aisle after administration officials were caught using a commercial messaging app to discuss sensitive military plans.
“This isn’t partisan,” Booker said. “This is a lack of patriotism. They didn’t swear an oath to Donald Trump. They swore an oath to defend the Constitution, and right now that’s not happening in the Senate.”
You can watch Booker and Kaine’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”