Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants other senators to join him in voting against a resolution that would make President Donald Trump end any military efforts against Iran within 30 days.
“I will strongly oppose our colleague’s effort and urge the Senate to defeat it,” McConnell said from the Senate floor in Washington on Feb. 11.
The measure would “severely limit the U.S. military’s operational flexibility to defend itself against the threats posed by Iran,” the senator said.
Kaine’s resolution was introduced after Trump ordered an airstrike to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in late December 2019. McConnell praised the strike as “successful,” saying it was “limited yet decisive” and took out “the mastermind responsible for more American casualties than anyone else alive.”
“This was not some reckless act,” he said.
Soleimani, 62, commanded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, which is designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. Military officials have also said Soleimani was responsible for causing numerous American injuries and deaths.
Kaine introduced his resolution on Jan. 3.
“For years, I’ve been deeply concerned about President Trump stumbling into a war with Iran. We’re now at a boiling point, and Congress must step in before Trump puts even more of our troops in harm’s way. We owe it to our servicemembers to have a debate and vote about whether or not it’s in our national interest to engage in another unnecessary war in the Middle East,” Kaine said in a statement at the time.
Trump is expected to veto the resolution. A veto can only be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
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