The Trump administration faced bipartisan scrutiny in the US Senate over whether it was circumventing congressional war powers by restarting a statutory 60-day deadline after a temporary ceasefire with Iran collapsed.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski raised the issue during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Donald Trump’s $87.6 billion supplemental funding request. She said hostilities began on February 28 without specific congressional authorisation.
Under the War Powers Resolution, a president generally must terminate hostilities within 60 days unless Congress authorises military action or extends the deadline.
Murkowski said Congress was informed on May 1 that hostilities had ended. A memorandum of understanding was subsequently signed in June to preserve the ceasefire while negotiations continued.
The agreement later collapsed, and attacks resumed around the Strait of Hormuz. The administration sent Congress a new war powers notification on July 10, effectively beginning another 60-day period, she said.
“I’m concerned about this sequence, 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,” Murkowski said.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon shared the White House’s position that the president had sufficient constitutional authority to continue the operation.
“We have all the authorities necessary at this moment,” Hegseth said.
Murkowski also asked whether congressional approval of the supplemental funding could itself be treated as authorisation for military operations.
She cited a 1999 Justice Department legal opinion concerning US operations in Kosovo. That opinion held that a supplemental appropriation could satisfy the War Powers Resolution’s requirements even without separate authorising language.
Hegseth said he would consult Pentagon lawyers before answering that question.
“As of right now, we think standalone Article 2 authorities exist for us to conduct this operation on behalf of the defense of the American people, that the president has those authorities,” he said.
Democratic Senator Jack Reed separately questioned whether airstrikes alone could defeat Iran and deter further attacks.
General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that air power had limitations but declined to discuss the possibility of deploying American ground forces.
“I think academically, as you look across the totality of history, air power has got limits and we always have to be mindful of those,” Caine said.
Asked whether the Pentagon was preparing for an extended ground conflict, Caine said it would be unhelpful to comment on hypothetical operations. He said military planners developed a range of options and explained their risks to national leaders.
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