Senate passes $750 billion defense bill

WASHINGTON » The Senate passed a $750 billion defense bill Thursday without resolving whether it will seek to restrain President Donald Trump from going to war with Iran, the debate’s most politically divisive element.

In an unorthodox move, the Senate will reconvene today to vote on whether to retroactively include language in the bill prohibiting Trump from engaging militarily with Iran without first seeking congressional approval, except in a case of selfdefense.

“The American people are very afraid that this president, even if he doesn’t want to start awar, would bumble us into awar,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “If there was ever a time that we should be rising to our constitutional obligation to debate and approve going to war, it’s now.”

The threat of conflict with Iran has overshadowed the annual defense bill debate in the Senate and the House, which is expected to vote on its version of the legislation next month.

The Senate’s 86-to-8 vote suggests there is strong bipartisan support formost of the legislation’s provisions, though the House and Senate are expected to face serious hurdles as they attempt to reconcile differences on nuclear weapons, Trump’s diversion of military resources to the U.S.-Mexico border, and overall Pentagon spending levels.

But the escalating standoff with Iran has presented itself as a more urgent matter.

“Congress should have the guts and the backbone to come here and cast a vote before we order our troops into harm’s way,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who authored the Senate’s Iran amendment with Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.