House OKs two laws to curb war against Iran

The House of Representatives passed two measures that should be helpful in restraining presidents who want to thrust our country into another deadly, obscene war.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to approve two measures that will constrain President Donald Trump’s ability to go to war with Iran.

One of two measures would block funding for any use of offensive military force in or against Iran without congressional approval, passed 228-175.

A second measure would repeal the 2002 resolution that authorized military force against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and has since been invoked by successive presidents pursuing fights against new enemies. It passed 236-166.

Tensions between the United States and Iran are still high following the deadly American strike on Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian military official, early in January.

Democrats, wary of getting bogged down in a new Middle East conflict, have sought to require Trump to seek authorization for future uses of military force.

Trump has threatened to veto both measures, though on Wednesday he took to Twitter to urge members of both parties to “vote their HEART.”

The 2002 resolution was used by the Obama administration as an “alternative statutory basis” for the campaign against the Islamic State and the Trump administration to assert authority for the use of force in “Syria or elsewhere.”

The Trump administration has vigorously opposed both resolutions, calling them ‘misguided” and warning that they would “undermine the ability of the United States to protect American citizens.”

“There is a difference between our two parties. And there is no better example than the tactic used today,” Minority Leader

Kevin McCarthy, who represents large swaths of Kern County and portions of Antelope Valley.

The Constitution grants Congress the authority to declare war but presidents in the modern era have largely sidestepped lawmakers.

The last congressional declaration of war was passed in 1942, against Romania.

The two measures should make it possible to rein in any president who might singlehandedly take the United States into another deadly round of warfare.