TL;DR
Four weeks into the Iran war, Congress has held no floor votes on authorization and the conflict remains unfunded.
MSM Perspective
Congress.gov shows no floor activity on war authorization; the Senate blocked a war powers resolution 53-47 on March 4.
X Perspective
War powers critics on X note Congress has now gone four weeks without a vote, calling it a constitutional abdication.
Four weeks into U.S. military operations against Iran, Congress has still not held a floor vote to authorize the conflict. A review of Congress.gov shows no Authorization for Use of Military Force legislation has advanced past committee in either chamber [1]. The war remains unfunded through regular appropriations.
As previously reported, Congress had already failed to act on authorization by week three. The only recorded vote was the Senate's 53-47 rejection of a war powers resolution on March 4, which would have required the president to withdraw forces within 30 days. Since then, neither the House nor Senate has scheduled further debate on the matter.
The administration continues to cite the 2001 AUMF and Article II commander-in-chief authority as its legal basis for operations. Legal scholars have challenged both claims, noting that the 2001 AUMF was directed at organizations responsible for the September 11 attacks and has no nexus to Iran's state military [1].
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is funding operations through existing contingency accounts — a stopgap that Defense Department officials have said can sustain current tempo for roughly 60 days without supplemental appropriations. That clock started February 26, leaving approximately five weeks of funding runway.
The House Armed Services Committee has scheduled a closed-door briefing for Thursday but no markup of authorization legislation. Speaker Johnson's office did not respond to requests for comment on the timeline for a floor vote.
-- SAMUEL CRANE, Washington