Photo: Architect of the Capitol, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Four Democratic senators have threatened to block the bill that keeps the federal government funded unless it cuts off money for the war in Iran, turning a December funding deadline into the first major test of whether Congress will use its power of the purse to end a conflict it never authorized.
In a joint statement issued Thursday, Senators Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, along with Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, said they would vote against any short-term spending bill that leaves President Donald Trump free to keep paying for the war.
"The American people do not want more war in the Middle East — but that is what President Trump has given them. Congress cannot allow Trump to continue his conflict — we must force him to end it," the senators wrote. "We intend to fund the government and stop funds for this war."
The warning raises the prospect of a government shutdown when current funding expires on December 11, just weeks after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections.
A 60-vote hurdle in the Senate
Any short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, needs 60 votes to advance in the Senate. Republicans hold 53 seats for the remainder of this year, meaning they cannot pass a funding bill without Democratic support.
The four senators are demanding language in the stopgap that "restricts the Trump Administration from using appropriated funds to continue his war against Iran."
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that party leaders were debating how long the stopgap should last and whether to attach restrictions on how the administration spends the money. "We're exploring all options at this point," she said, adding that Democrats do not intend to approve the tens of billions of dollars in additional war funding the administration requested this summer.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to get ahead of bipartisan negotiations, saying Representative Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, was "working through all of our Democratic priorities to see what's possible in advance of Dec. 11." But he left no doubt about where his caucus stands. "House Democrats have uniformly opposed providing any additional money to Donald Trump's war machine," Jeffries said. "Taxpayer dollars should be spent to make life more affordable for everyday Americans, not to drop bombs overseas in an endless war."
What the senators say the war has cost
The four senators framed their demand as a response both to the midterm results and to the price Americans are paying for the conflict. In their statement, they said voters sent a message that Congress should end what they called the "illegal and disastrous war with Iran."
"This conflict has driven up the cost of gas, groceries, and fertilizer," they wrote, adding that "more than 20 American service members have been killed and hundreds more wounded, while achieving none of President Trump's stated goals and harming civilians across the region."
The Pentagon has put the cost of the war at $47.1 billion as of mid-October, according to Pentagon estimates cited in news reports. The administration has also sought tens of billions of dollars more for the conflict, a request Democrats now say they will not approve.
The war behind the standoff
The United States and Israel launched a wave of surprise attacks on Iran on February 28, beginning a war that has now stretched into its ninth month. Iran has answered with strikes on American bases and shipping in the Gulf, and by restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a large share of the world's oil.
In recent days, President Trump has said the war "militarily is effectively over," while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the administration's economic pressure campaign — sanctions and a naval blockade — has made further large-scale strikes unnecessary. But neither has declared the conflict finished, and American forces remain deployed across the region.
If the four senators hold their line and Democratic leaders back them, Congress will face a choice in the coming weeks: attach restrictions on war funding and risk a presidential veto, or pass a clean funding bill and keep the war financed — a vote many Democrats now say their voters will not accept.
With the December 11 deadline less than a month away, and with party leaders still undecided on whether to risk a shutdown, the standoff is set to dominate the final weeks of the year in Washington.
Sources: States Newsroom, The Hill, Daily Caller.