TL;DR
Three War Powers votes have failed — Senate on March 4, House on March 5, Senate again on March 18 — and the war keeps growing without congressional authorization.
MSM Perspective
The Guardian and NYT covered the March 18 Senate vote as a second failed attempt; AP framed it as Congress backing Trump's strategy by inaction.
X Perspective
Constitutional law accounts on X note the war is now larger than Kosovo was when Congress last failed to authorize a conflict, and no legal challenge has been filed.
The war with Iran is 24 days old. Congress has not authorized it. Three separate votes to invoke the War Powers Resolution have failed, and no new attempt is scheduled.
The Senate rejected the first resolution 47-53 on March 4, largely along party lines. [1] The House followed the next day, defeating its version 212-219. [2] Senator Cory Booker forced a second Senate vote on March 18. It was blocked again, 47-53. [3]
The president is operating under Article II commander-in-chief authority and a two-page War Powers notification submitted to Congress on February 28. [4] No new Authorization for Use of Military Force has been introduced. The 2001 and 2002 AUMFs, written for al-Qaeda and Iraq, do not cover Iran.
Meanwhile the war has expanded. The USS Boxer is en route with 2,500 Marines. Senior military leaders are weighing deployment of the 82nd Airborne's brigade combat team — roughly 3,000 paratroopers. The strike campaign has hit power plants, nuclear facilities, and military targets across Iran.
The constitutional question is no longer academic. Each failed vote functions as tacit permission: Congress has been asked and has declined to stop it. The war grows. The authorization doesn't.
-- SAMUEL CRANE, Washington
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