War Without Congress: Iran, Venezuela, and the Fight to Reclaim War Powers

Article I, Section 8 gives Congress, not the president, the power to declare war. After Vietnam, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of introducing forces into hostilities and to end them within 60 days, plus a 30 day withdrawal period, unless Congress authorizes the action.

Presidents of both parties have stretched those rules. What makes 2026 different is the scale: regime level operations launched without authorization, and a Congress that voted, narrowly, not to stop them.

On January 3, 2026, U.S. military forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas, and brought them to the United States to stand trial. Congress had not authorized the operation.

On January 14, a Senate war powers resolution related to Venezuela failed by a single vote. In the House, a similar resolution narrowly failed after only two Republicans joined every Democrat in support.

On February 28, the United States and Israel began a military operation against Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On March 4, the Senate rejected a war powers resolution requiring congressional consent for continued hostilities, 47 to 53. A similar House measure failed the next day.

Months later, members from both parties argue the operation has long outrun any plausible reading of the 60 day clock in the War Powers Resolution.

On September 15, Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie introduced an eight article resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of defying Congress and illegally continuing the war in Iran. The articles also target operations in Venezuela, including the Maduro capture, and in Yemen.

Massie filed it as a privileged resolution, which lets any member force a floor vote. House Republican leaders then cut the week short and adjourned until after the election, which means the vote will not happen before November 3.

Requiring Congress to vote on war is not a technicality. It forces the people's representatives to publicly own the decision to send Americans into combat, spend the money, and accept the consequences. When a president can start and sustain wars alone, one of the most important checks in the Constitution stops working.

• Ask candidates: will you vote for a war powers resolution on Iran in the next Congress?
• Ask incumbents: how did you vote on the January and March war powers resolutions?
• Support repeal of outdated military force authorizations that presidents use as blank checks.