The House of Representatives voted mostly down party lines to restrict President Donald Trump’s ability to wage military action against Iran without congressional approval, CBS News reports.
The resolution passed by a 224-194 vote. Eight Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the resolution while three Republicans, including Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz, voted in favor of the resolution.
The bill is a “concurrent resolution,” which means it has to be approved by both chambers of Congress but does not go to the president for his signature. Republicans have argued that this makes the resolution non-binding and mostly symbolic.
A similar resolution was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tim Kaine. Republicans in the chamber appear to have little appetite to support the resolution though Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. Mike Lee have said they will vote with Democrats.
Trump claims Iran planned to blow up embassies:
Trump justified the drone strike that killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Thursday by claiming that he plotted to blow up embassies.
"Soleimani was actively planning new attacks, and he was looking very seriously at our embassies, and not just the embassy in Baghdad," Trump said at a rally. "But we stopped him, and we stopped him quickly, and we stopped him cold."
But Pompeo contradicts him:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has insisted that Soleimani plotted an “imminent” attack, admitted to Fox News that the administration did not actually know when or where the alleged attacks would take place.
"There is no doubt that there were a series of imminent attacks that were being plotted by Qassem Soleimani,” Pompeo said. "We don't know precisely when, and we don't know precisely where, but it was real."
Democrats say they’re lying:
“If there is evidence there, we have not seen it,” Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal said Wednesday after the administration briefing that caused Lee and Paul to defect. “[President Trump] had no evidence of an imminent attack, and we say that coming from a classified briefing, where again, there was no raw evidence presented that there was an imminent threat.”
