WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled House has approved a resolution asserting that President Donald Trump must seek approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran.
Bourne Congressman Bill Keating, who represents the Cape & Islands, joined his fellow Democrats in supporting the measure.
In a speech on the House floor, Keating said it was the responsibility of Congress to decide when war is justified.
“Long before I knew the legal responsibility, I learned the moral responsibility inherent to what must be the most sober and deliberate decision we can humanly muster,” he said.
“As a young boy, indelibly etched in my mind, is the conversation with my grandmother the day she pulled a box out from under the bed, reverently handing me the medals and final belongings of my uncle who was killed in action, and telling me about her lost son.”
Keating said that day has stayed with him ever since and was amplified when he traveled to Iraq after his first election to Congress.
“I remember having an individual conversation with a young Marine. I asked him his personal thoughts about the goals of the war. What he thought. Did he think it was justified. He told me, ‘With all due respect sir, that is your job. My job is to serve.’ He was right; it’s our job…that’s why I’m supporting this resolution.”
The war powers resolution is not binding on Trump and would not require his signature. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nonetheless insists it “has real teeth” because “it is a statement of the Congress of the United States.”
The House approved the measure, 224-194. Trump claims he has no obligation to give lawmakers advance warning, saying Democrats like Pelosi “want us to tell them so they can leak it to their friends in the corrupt media.”
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