Six months into the war with Iran, the fighting continues, the costs are mounting, and Republicans in Congress are on the sidelines watching.

The House returned from its roughly five-week recess on Monday and left Thursday without taking any votes on the conflict, letting President Donald Trump continue his offensive in Iran without a formal sign-off from Congress.

For most Republicans, it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all.

Many GOP lawmakers say a vote — whether it’s an authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) or a formal declaration of war — isn’t needed.

Asked if it was time for an AUMF given the war is past the six-month mark, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast said “not necessarily.”

The Florida Republican argued the conflict had “moved out of Epic Fury” — the name for the operation that began the war — and into “economic outcast.”

“I don’t think that they need an authorized use of military force; I don’t think that they need a declaration of war to be conducting strikes against an imminent threat against the United States of America, which is what Iran is,” Mast said.

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga. — a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a 20-year veteran of the Marine Corps and Navy — said Congress may never vote on an AUMF  or a declaration of war.

“Last time we declared war was World War II,” he said, ignoring that Congress has approved a number of military authorizations covering dozens of separate uses of force since then. “We fought at least five wars that I’m aware of since then, so maybe never.”

Asked if it was time for a war vote, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, simply offered that it was “time to defeat Iran.”

“The president has the authority,” he said. “If you don’t think he has the authority, take him to court.”

One House Republican, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic, questioned the importance of either vote, addressing his Democratic colleagues who have advocated for such referendums.

“Where does that alone get you?” the lawmaker asked. “You better have a better plan than to say, like, ‘I’m gonna take a vote and wear a ribbon and then go out there and say I solved it.’”

But perhaps no exchange this week illustrated the GOP’s laissez faire attitude toward Iran as well as the one Speaker Mike Johnson had with reporters on Tuesday. 

When the Louisiana Republican was asked about his predictions from earlier this year that the Iran war would be over in a matter of weeks, Johnson claimed it was “one of the stupidest questions” that reporter had ever asked.

“I have nothing to do with the prosecution of the war across the globe,” Johnson said.

“Should the House Speaker be held responsible for the duration of a military conflict around the globe? You answer that question,” he said.

Of course, constitutionally, Congress plays a significant role in the duration of a military conflict — particularly a conflict that goes well beyond the 90-days afforded to the president by the War Powers Resolution. 

The War Powers Resolution gives the president 60 days to conduct hostilities without congressional authorization, followed by a 30-day period for withdrawal. After those 90-days have expired, the president is supposed to come to Congress for an authorization. But Trump has blown past that deadline — and votes to curb his authority haven’t accomplished anything.

The Republican uninterest in authorizing the war comes as hostilities in Iran show no signs of ending. 

In an effort to cripple Iran’s economy, the U.S. still has a naval blockade surrounding the country. And on Tuesday, U.S. Central Command announced another wave of strikes against Iranian military targets, in retaliation for the IRGC’s attempted attack against American service members and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

After news of the strikes broke, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters he anticipated offensive strikes to intensify. His analysis followed a briefing with Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command.

Congress has, to be sure, taken successful votes pertaining to the war, but they led lawmakers into a place of legal ambiguity. Both the House and Senate adopted a War Powers Resolution that would curb U.S. authority in Iran, but the legislation was a concurrent resolution, which doesn’t require Trump’s signature and makes it legally nonbinding.

While most Republicans seem content to stay out of the issue, there are some GOP lawmakers who want answers about Trump’s intentions with Iran, given that he’s more than 90 days past the initial 90 days afforded to him under the War Powers Resolution.

“It raises a question: What is the enforcement mechanism for the War Powers Act of 1973?” asked Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., one of four GOP supporters of legislation to rein in Trump on Iran.

Fitzpatrick believes it’s time for lawmakers to vote on the war, telling MS NOW that an authorization “needs to come to Congress.”

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a retired Air Force Brigadier General, agreed that lawmakers should sign-off on the war.

“I’ve always thought it should’ve been done from the beginning, the AUMF,” Bacon told MS NOW. “The president tried to do this in two months, thinking he could get by in two months, doesn’t need Congress. That wasn’t wise.”

Bacon added that Trump never really reached out to Democrats. “He should have,” Bacon said. “This had to be a bipartisan thing, and he never really attempted to make it bipartisan.”

Still, Fitzpatrick and Bacon are in a very small minority.

Pressed on when it would be time to vote on a war authorization, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., told MS NOW: “I’m not exactly sure, but I know I will know when the time is right when it approaches me — and it’s not now.”

Meanwhile, the economic costs of the war are piling up at home. The average price of gas was $4.14 a gallon on Thursday, according to AAA, with diesel reaching $5.78 a gallon.

The elevated fuel prices are threatening to upend the GOP’s chances in the November midterm election, when Republicans are fighting tooth-and-nail to hold on to their slim majorities in the House and Senate.

Republican lawmakers on the ballot are well aware that the war isn’t making their political chances any easier.

“Iran is the biggest problem the Republican Party has right now,” Van Drew said.

“Everything is petroleum-based: Your manufacturing, your farming, your home heating — everything is based on fossil fuels,” he said. “So with that being expensive, and it’s expensive because of the Iran war, it is the trigger that makes this election more difficult.”

As the war stretches into its seventh month, even Republicans who support Trump’s campaign are uncertain about when it will end.

Rogers insisted the administration has “a plan.” Van Drew said “I think and hope” the war would “soon” come to an end. And Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told MS NOW he didn’t know when it would be over.

McCormick, however, suspects hostilities will continue for at least another two months.

“It’s not gonna come to an end any time soon,” McCormick told MS NOW. “They’ve been nothing but defiant.”

“Not until after the midterms,” he said.

The post The Iran war drags on. Republicans are watching from the sidelines. appeared first on MS NOW.

From MS Now.