The Trump administration is dismissing a legal deadline today that would normally force the president to either end military operations against Iran or seek fresh congressional authorization. The 60-day window under the War Powers Act of 1973 closes today, marking the threshold since strikes began on February 28.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the ceasefire agreement struck with Iran more than three weeks ago essentially pauses the clock. "The hostilities that began on Saturday, February 28, have terminated," a senior Trump official explained to press.
The administration's position contradicts the plain language of the War Powers Act, which sets a fixed deadline regardless of diplomatic developments. Susan Collins of Maine, one of two Republicans to break ranks on the issue, cast the statutory requirement as non-negotiable.
"The presidentâs authority as commander-in-chief is not without limits," Collins wrote. "That deadline is not a suggestion; it is a requirement."
Senate Republicans blocked a war powers resolution from Democrat Adam Schiff on Thursday, marking the sixth failed Democratic attempt to impose congressional limits on the Iran conflict. The tally remained largely along party lines, with Collins and Rand Paul of Kentucky voting yes, and Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voting no.
The repeated legislative defeats underscore the Trump administration's legislative cushion on the conflict. Yet the grinding pace of votes suggests building unease among some Republicans about the scope of executive war powers, even as GOP leaders hold the line.
In a separate matter, Congress extended Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for 45 days, preserving warrantless surveillance authority for U.S. intelligence agencies.
Trump has also signaled potential shifts in military posture abroad. He threatened to withdraw troops from Spain and Italy over those nations' public criticism of his Middle East operations, and suggested reviewing the American military footprint in Germany after the chancellor described the country as being "humiliated" by Iran.
Author James Rodriguez: "The administration's creative interpretation of the War Powers Act is precisely the kind of executive overreach the statute was designed to prevent, and Republicans who support it are betting Congress stays on the sidelines."
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