Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is considering pushing Congress to vote to authorize war against Iran if President Donald Trump decides to send American troops to the country.
“This takes the situation to a completely different level than what was presented to us as members of Congress when we first entered Iran,” she said of the possibility of American troops on the ground in Iran. “Congress deserves and should demand greater involvement from the administration in the plans. To date, we have not received that,” she told the press on Sunday.
The Alaska senator added that Congress has already voted on resolutions to limit Trump’s war powers, but “I think the time has come for us to start looking at what an AUMF() could look like.”
An AUMF is a joint resolution that allows the president to exercise broad military powers in specific circumstances.
“Congress has a bigger role in this than just approving funding,” Murkowski argued, adding that “some contours have not yet been clearly defined.”
Murkowski said she has spoken primarily with Republican colleagues about the need to step up efforts to authorize war.
“I think there is interest in figuring out what this could look like,” she said.
