US Democrats will try, and try again, to rein in Trump's Iran war powers

Source: Reuters

April 14, 2026 5:39 PM EDT Updated 2 hours ago


WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will vote ​as soon as Wednesday on the latest Democratic-led effort to rein in President Donald Trump's war powers, and party ‌leaders promised on Tuesday to keep bringing up such resolutions as long as the Iran war continues. "Forty-five days into this war, Congress has been sidelined because our Republican colleagues refuse to take a strong stand against this war and duck it completely because they're afraid of Trump," Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York ​said in a Senate speech on Tuesday.

Trump said on Tuesday talks to end the Iran war could resume in Pakistan over ​the next two days, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ⁠ports. Failure to reach an agreement in those talks raised doubts over the survival of a two-week ceasefire that still has a week ​to run.

Congressional Democrats have tried and repeatedly failed in recent months to pass war powers resolutions to force Trump to stop military action and ​obtain lawmakers' authorization before launching military operations, in both Venezuela and Iran.

Democrats are attempting to link their efforts to rein in Trump on Iran to affordability, as disruptions in shipments of oil and natural gas have caused a run-up in U.S. gasoline prices and agricultural products such as fertilizers - on top of the long ​list of other high consumer prices. Few issues resonate with U.S. voters more deeply than price increases, and the latest inflationary upswing is unsettling Republican ​insiders worried about their party's prospects less than seven months before November elections that will determine control of Congress.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-democrats-will-try-try-again-rein-trumps-iran-war-powers-2026-04-14/