As early as Wednesday, the House is expected to pass the Iran War Powers Resolution which passed the Senate, explicitly prohibiting hostilities against Iran which Congress never authorized. This Iran war powers resolution is a “joint resolution,” meaning that it will be sent to President Trump for his signature. Trump is expected to veto it. Congress is not expected to have the votes to override Trump’s veto. Under Article I of the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973, this cannot be the end of the story, because Article I of the Constitution, re-affirmed by the War Powers Resolution of 1973, gave the power to decide when the nation uses military force solely to Congress, not the President.
 
There is a mechanism for stopping an unconstitutional war provided in the War Powers Resolution of 1973 – the law of the land – that can’t be vetoed: the concurrent resolution. The concurrent resolution only needs to be passed by the House and Senate. It is not presented to the President for signature, and therefore the President cannot veto it. This mechanism is crucial to our hopes to end unconstitutional U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen, because while the political act of passing a joint resolution may be sufficient to deter Trump on Iran, history since Trump vetoed the joint Sanders-Lee-Murphy Yemen War Powers Resolution proved that the political act of passing a joint resolution was not sufficient to deter Trump from unconstitutionally continuing U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen.
 
Fortunately, we have two powerful champions for using the mechanism that Trump can’t veto for stopping unconstitutional war: Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, and Eliot Engel, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.   
 
On January 9, in his opening floor statement on the concurrent Slotkin Iran War Powers Resolution, HFAC Chair Engel said: "I’ve heard the myth floating around that this resolution is non-binding... So let me quote from the War Powers Act to prove that untrue. The War Powers Law says, and I quote, “at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution.” Again, by concurrent resolution...This is the House of Representatives exercising its Article One authority… We don’t get authority over war powers if the President says so. We get authority over war powers, period.”
 
In her press conference that day, Speaker Pelosi said: “This is with real teeth...the War Powers text enables two approaches to go forward.  One is a concurrent resolution, and it gives a procedure for that, which we will be following today…We're taking this path because it does not require a statement – a signature of the President of the United States.” In her floor statement that day, Speaker Pelosi said: “The value and the beauty and the exquisite nature of a concurrent resolution is that it does not have to be signed by the President of the United States…So, under the authority of the War Powers Act that gives us this option, we take this opportunity to do so.”
 
Bruce Ackerman and other Constitutional scholars agree: Trump can’t veto Congress’ Article I war powers and the concurrent resolution provisions of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 are good law.
 
To preserve and strengthen this crucial tool of the War Powers Resolution to end and prevent wars, we need other Members of the House to stand strong with Speaker Pelosi and HFAC Chair Engel during the House floor debate to affirm that Article I of the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973 are the law of the land, and that President Trump does not have any say over Congress’ Constitutional War Powers.

Urge your Representative to stand with Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Engel for Congressional War Powers during the Iran debate by signing our petition.