White House sends Congress mixed messages on Iran war votes
President Donald Trump told lawmakers to “vote with their hearts” on war powers legislation, but the White House is playing hardball with Republican defectors.
Shortly after the White House issued a formal veto threat warning the House against voting to repeal the 2002 Iraq war authorization, President Donald Trump contradicted his staff. The president tweeted that lawmakers should “vote with their hearts” on repealing the 2002 authorization, a longtime bete noire for Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.
While the House passed Lee’s legislation 236-166 today, only 11 Republicans found it in their hearts to support repealing the authorization that the White House used as the legal justification to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad earlier this month.
One of those Republicans, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is a close Trump ally who has found himself in hot water with the White House in recent weeks for siding with Democrats on other Iran war powers issues. That includes co-sponsoring legislation with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., to ban funding for offensive military action against Iran absent congressional authorization, which the House also passed 228-175 today.
Three of Gaetz’s Republican colleagues joined him in voting for the legislation, which was championed by the progressive caucus and a broad coalition of anti-war groups: Reps. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, Trey Hollingsworth, R-Ind., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
