by Brian Garvey
Congress voted two ways on the same day — and in doing so, told us exactly where things are headed.
Congress Failed on a Party-Line Vote
The Senate rejected a War Powers Resolution 47–53. The House defeated a similar measure 212–219. Both were nearly party-line votes — with the notable exception of Sen. Rand Paul, who crossed over to oppose the war. Congress had a chance to challenge the legality of this conflict. It didn’t take it.
And yet Republicans can’t even agree on whether it’s a war. Speaker Johnson said the U.S. is “not at war” — only on a “specific, clear mission.” Hours later, sitting next to Johnson, Trump called it a war. Secretary Hegseth called it a war. Sen. Markwayne Mullin told reporters “We are not at war with Iran” — then days later told those same reporters “This is war.” When reminded he’d just contradicted himself, Mullin replied: “Okay. That was a misspoke.” As one observer noted, this framing — it’s not a war, it’s a special military operation — is very Kremlin, March 2022.
Most Democratic Lawmakers Are Helping to Justify Trump’s War
On the same day the House voted down the War Powers Resolution, it voted 372–53 to pass H.Res.1099 — a non-binding resolution reaffirming that Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. Most House Democrats voted for it. The Trump administration has used that designation as one of its central justifications for the war. Voting against the War Powers Resolution while handing the administration its key talking point is not opposition — it’s contradiction.
A week later, the House passed the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act by voice vote — tightening secondary sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. Most members avoided a public record on that one too, though a number of Democrats cosponsored it. The Massachusetts delegation was split on both votes, with Reps. McGovern and Pressleystanding apart as consistent opponents of the war. McGovern called it an “illegal war.” Pressley wrote: “My heart breaks for the United States service members killed. My heart breaks for the innocent Iranian schoolgirls killed. Every child is a parent’s entire universe.”
The pattern is the same in each case: vote against the war in public, then vote to validate and sustain it in practice. That is not opposition. It is permission with extra steps.
Iran’s Response Is Already Hitting American Families
The consequences of this war aren’t only playing out on the battlefield. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to oil exports — and 20% of the world’s oil supply moves through that waterway. Gas prices are already up more than 11% in one week. The Dow has erased all of its 2026 gains. Economists are warning of an oil shock severe enough to trigger stagflation — rising prices and slowing growth at the same time — the worst of both worlds for working families already squeezed by tariffs.
And the bill for all of this is rising fast. The Center for American Progress estimates the war cost more than $5 billion in its first days. The Pentagon’s supplemental request started at $50 billion, was then reported as over $100 billion, and is now reported to be $200 billion — described as “an extraordinarily high number.” The National Priorities Project notes that $200 billion would fund the entire enhanced ACA subsidy program for years, or expand Medicaid to tens of millions of people.
This is being requested for a war that President Trump has already declared won. He said the U.S. “destroyed 100% of Iran’s military capability.” Iran is still firing drones and missiles. These wars are almost always more costly than advertised — and the people asking for $200 billion are the same ones who told us this would be quick and decisive.
The People Know Better
A University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll found only 21% of Americans support U.S. strikes against Iran. The public was ahead of Congress on this from day one. They knew a $200 billion war bill was coming. They knew prices would go up. They knew there was no plan for what comes next. The question is whether their representatives will start acting like it.
Three-quarters of Americans opposed this war before it started. That is not a marginal view — it is where the country is. What’s missing is not public support for peace. It’s accountability for the people in Congress who claim to share that view and then vote to underwrite the war anyway.
Call your senators and representatives. Tell them to oppose this war and restore Congress’s power over war and peace. And if they voted to validate this administration’s justifications while claiming to oppose the war, ask them to explain that.
Voting to declare the war unconstitutional one week and funding it the next is not opposition. It’s permission. And the American people deserve better.
Brian Garvey is the executive director of MAPA
