West Virginia’s Republican senators, Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice, today voted against advancing a joint resolution directing the president to withdraw United States armed forces from Iran unless there’s a declaration of war or authorization to use military force.
The effort to advance the resolution was defeated in a 47-49 vote. One Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, was a yes vote. Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, was a no vote. Two Republican senators who have supported legislation to end the war, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, did not vote.
“I voted no, and the reason I voted no is that the president, I believe, has the right and and the authority to proceed as he has,” Capito said in response to a MetroNews question during a briefing today.
Also today, the House of Representatives passed a war powers resolution in a 214-208 vote. Four Republicans joined Democrats. West Virginia’s Republican representatives, Riley Moore and Carol Miller, were no votes.
The military conflict in Iran has escalated. The United States military has bombed Iran for 12 consecutive nights. The Strait of Hormuz, a major oil supply route, is technically open but commercial traffic has slowed severely because of the ongoing hostilities.
“There is frustration,” Capito said in a briefing with West Virginia reporters. “There’s no doubt about it in terms of the length and sort of the spreading: Now Houthis are involved. Also, the Iranians are bombing six and seven other countries.
“It is morphed into a different type of conflict than what the president originally embarked on to eliminate the possibilities of nuclear weapons. But we have decimated the country in terms of its navy and other things. So I think we’ll continue to have these votes. Votes may change, but as of today, they have not.”
Roughly 500 to 550 U.S. service members have been injured in the conflict. Four U.S. service members have died in the conflict with Iran in recent days. Eighteen American service members are believed to have been killed since the start of the Iran war.
“We saw four service members coming home yesterday, in you know losing their lives in service to our country. Very very young people. Really really sad for them, their families, for the nation. And we want to make sure that we are protecting our troops,” Capito said in comments advocating billions in emergency or supplemental funding to cover the ongoing war in Iran and replace munitions.
Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution assigns Congress the sole and exclusive power to formally declare war. The United States Constitution’s Article II also explicitly designates the president as the commander in chief.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 restricts the president from committing U.S. troops to armed conflicts without congressional authorization or a declared emergency.
The president may only commit forces for 60 days without congressional approval. The current U.S. fighting with Iran began Feb. 28.
“Now you have to remember that yes, things began in February, but there are have been ceasefires, lulls and everything else, and we have no commitment of troops. So I think that we’re not there yet to be able to tell the president that’s where and how he needs to proceed and he has to come to Congress,” Capito said.
Capito was among the senators who participated in a hearing this week with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked Hegseth about the War Powers Resolution. “It’s not ambiguous,” she said, noting the start and stop nature of the conflict.
Murkowski asked, “Is the administration still taking that position about needing no authorization from Congress at this time?”
Hegseth responded, “Senator, I know there’s a longstanding legal debate on this particular topic. We certainly as a department share the position of the White House that we share all the authorities necessary at this moment.”
Capito’s chance to ask a question came well into the appropriations hearing. She asked about the rationale for the additional military spending: “What’s the consequence of not passing this supplemental spending?” she asked Caine. “Where do you see that hitting us most deeply?”
Caine responded by saying financial compensation for service members could be strained, also citing operations and maintenance costs plus the ability to make investments toward future capability.
“So not only would it hit us today but it could hit us tomorrow, as well,” Capito responded.
Most observers characterized the Senate hearing as fiery, contentious and tense, even on a bipartisan basis. Hegseth faced aggressive scrutiny from Democratic senators over the administration’s war strategy in Iran and the conflict’s rising cost, and some Republican lawmakers expressed dissatisfaction over a lack of an exit plan.
“The Democrats were pretty harsh in terms of you know, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing and you’re putting our our military in harm’s way,’ and they wanted to make it all about Iran,” Capito said later on “Talk of the Town” on WAJR Radio.
“This is really more about the troops, about the technologies, about the training, about the readiness, about making sure that we are armed, not just for today, but also for the future and our national security.”
Asked a followup question on radio about the state of the war, Capito said, “Iran has no navy. They are very wounded in terms of their missile development, in terms of their ability to get a nuclear weapon, which is the goal of why the president has moved in this direction.
“There is frustration that it has gone on longer than was originally promised, and I share that frustration. I think everybody does, but at the same time, they’ve proven themselves. The Iranians have proven themselves to be what we always knew they were: dishonest terrorists who have hidden and fortified their own country at the peril of their own people to to be able to fund terrorism not just in that region but around the world and kill and try to kill many Americans.”
She concluded, “And so we need to put this to rest. I don’t know how people with a straight face can say ‘Oh they’re stronger than they were when their country has basically been defanged of many of the assets that they had previous to this.'”