Senate to vote on war powers; not expected to pass

WASHINGTON — Political unease over the White House’s tough talk against Iran is reviving questions about President Donald Trump’s ability to order military strikes without approval from Congress.

The Senate is heading toward a vote Friday on an amendment to a sweeping defense bill that would require congressional support before Trump acts.

It’s not expected to pass. But lawmakers say Trump cannot continue relying on the nearly two-decadesold war authorizations Congress approved in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of

New Mexico, an author of the measure, says he’s not alone in raising concerns about Trump’s “ping-pong diplomacy” and “go it alone posture.”

“This reckless diplomacy is dangerously reminiscent of the run-up to the war with Iraq,” he said on the Senate floor Thursday.

The effort in the Senate signals discomfort with Trump’s approach to foreign policy. Most Democrats and a few Republicans support Udall’s amendment but it faces steep resistance from the White House, and the Pentagon wrote a letter opposing it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell called it nothing more than another example of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which he explained as whatever the president’s for “they seem to be against.”

Mcconnell said putting restrictions on the White House would “hamstring” the president’s ability to respond militarily at a time of escalating tension between the U.S. and Iran.

“They have gratuitously chosen to make him the enemy,” Mcconnell said. “Rather than work with the president to deter our actual enemy, they have chosen to make him the enemy.”