US President Donald Trump has vetoed a bill that would have reined in his power to unilaterally make war against Iran. The bill was passed by lawmakers after the White House’s January decision to assassinate a leading Iranian general without notifying Congress, bringing the region to the brink of war.
In March, federal lawmakers passed a resolution amending the War Powers Act of 1973 by requiring the president to obtain Congressional approval before ordering military actions against other states.
“Congress should not have passed this resolution,” the White House said in a Wednesday press release on Trump’s behalf announcing the veto decision.
“This was a very insulting resolution, introduced by Democrats as part of a strategy to win an election on November 3 by dividing the Republican Party,” the statement reads. “The few Republicans who voted for it played right into their hands.”
Trump further argued the resolution was “based on misunderstandings of facts and law,” adding that his January 3 order to assassinate Iranian Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani with a drone strike outside Baghdad Airport “was fully authorized by law, including by the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 and Article II of the Constitution.”
The 2002 AUMF gave then-President George W. Bush the congressional authority to order the invasion of Iraq in order to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
“Finally, S.J. Res. 68 would have greatly harmed the President’s ability to protect the United States, its allies, and its partners,” the statement continues. “The resolution implies that the President’s constitutional authority to use military force is limited to defense of the United States and its forces against imminent attack. That is incorrect. We live in a hostile world of evolving threats, and the Constitution recognizes that the President must be able to anticipate our adversaries’ next moves and take swift and decisive action in response. That’s what I did!”
Politico reporter Andrew Desiderio tweeted soon after the press release he had information that “the Senate could vote to override this veto as soon as tomorrow.” Such a move would require a two-thirds majority, as opposed to the simple majority it required to pass the bill.
