Presidential hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, quietly introduced a resolution last week that could force the House to vote on a US troop withdrawal from Syria, potentially dividing Democrats and anti-war activists. 

The resolution follows the same playbook that her presidential opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., used to force a vote on legislation intended to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen earlier this year. While Sanders succeeded in getting that resolution passed, he did not have enough support to override President Donald Trump’s veto in April. 

As Sanders did for Yemen, Gabbard has filed her Syria resolution under the War Powers Act, which provides expedited procedures that allow any lawmaker to force a vote requiring the president to withdraw troops from any conflicts not authorized by Congress. 

Robert Naiman, an independent foreign policy consultant who was heavily involved in the campaign to pass the Yemen war powers resolution, praised Gabbard’s legislation as the next logical step in congressional efforts to claw back war-making authority from the White House.