Tim Kaine predicts Senate will vote to end Iran war as GOP defections grow

Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, predicted Wednesday that the Senate will eventually vote to end the war against Iran, saying the conflict is both “illegal and stupid” and that Republican opposition to it is building week by week.

Appearing on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” Mr. Kaine said he intends to force a war powers vote every week until one succeeds.

“We’re going to bring this vote to end the war up every week until we succeed,” he said. “I think the day that the Senate will vote to end this war, and it will be a historic vote, when we vote to do it is soon.”

Mr. Kaine’s remarks came hours after the Senate’s seventh attempt to advance such a resolution — and its closest yet. Three Republican senators broke with their leadership Wednesday and voted to advance a Democratic-sponsored resolution under the 1973 War Powers Act to halt the conflict with Iran unless Congress formally authorizes further military action. The motion still failed by a vote of 49-50.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted for the measure for the first time, joining Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Ms. Collins had first broken with GOP leadership on the issue in late April. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote against advancing the measure, while Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, facing a tough reelection race, split with Ms. Murkowski and voted against the resolution.

Mr. Kaine cited the growing Republican dissent as evidence that constituent pressure is working.

“My Republican colleagues are hearing in their phone calls from their constituents that this is a stupid war,” he said on CNN. “We don’t want to see inflation ratchet up. We don’t want to see gas prices $1.40, $1.50 and climbing higher than they were on February 27.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota urged his Republican colleagues to vote against the resolution, arguing it would be inappropriate to undercut President Trump’s power as commander in chief while the president was overseas meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“I think right now the president is overseas, he’s negotiating with the Chinese on a whole range of issues, some of which bear on national security, and I think it would be best if everybody hung together and supported the president,” Mr. Thune said before the vote. 

Mr. Kaine dismissed the ceasefire currently in place as a reason to stand down. “The ceasefire we’re in should be extended,” he said. “The president has said he might start, you know, bombing again tomorrow.”

He added that even during the pause in bombing, the conflict has not truly ended, noting continued U.S. naval operations. “There is a war that’s going on, just a cessation of the bombing campaign,” he said.

Mr. Trump asserted in a May 1 letter to Congress that the ceasefire extended the 60-day window under the War Powers Resolution, effectively authorizing continued military force without a congressional vote. Democrats and a growing number of Republicans have rejected that interpretation. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat, who sponsored Wednesday’s resolution, argued on the Senate floor that “both sides are engaged in a daily war.” 

The War Powers Resolution, enacted in 1973 in the aftermath of Vietnam, requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing U.S. forces to hostilities and mandates withdrawal within 60 days absent a congressional declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.

Mr. Kaine, who represents a state with one of the largest military populations in the country, said he has a personal obligation to see the conflict ended through proper constitutional channels.

“I represent a very military state, and my state says this war is illegal and unwise,” he said.

When host Kaitlan Collins asked whether any additional Republicans might join the effort, Mr. Kaine declined to make predictions.

“I never predict what anyone else will do,” he said. “I can tell you my vote, but others are going to have to decide.”