Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Thursday it is time for Congress to assert its authority over the war against Iran, arguing that the military campaign cannot continue without sharper direction from lawmakers. She said she plans to introduce legislation as soon as next week that would authorize the fight while also placing limits on it.
"I do not accept that we should engage in open-ended military action without clear direction or accountability," Murkowski said on the Senate floor. "Congress has a role. Congress has to step up and fulfill that role, that obligation that the Constitution assigns to us."
Murkowski's measure would be an Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, a tool Congress has used in past wars to bless military action while defining its scope. In this case, she said, the proposal would both authorize and constrain the war, requiring the administration to spell out what the United States is trying to achieve, how it plans to get there and how often it will report back to Congress.
"An AUMF recognizes the reality that the U.S. military is already engaged and provides structure and clarity by requiring the administration to define what we’re trying to achieve and the means of achieving it," Murkowski said. "It requires reporting to Congress. And it brings transparency where little has existed over the past two months."
The move could be the most concrete step yet by a Republican senator to put limits on the Trump administration's prosecution of the war. Murkowski has already voted against six Democratic resolutions to immediately end the conflict, and she said an abrupt withdrawal would not be a good strategic move. Her proposal lands as a few Republicans have voiced concern about the cost of the war and about what they say is a lack of information from the administration on its strategy.
That split was visible Thursday in Washington. As Murkowski pressed for a clearer legal framework, Sen. Dan Sullivan backed the administration's military budget request in a hearing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Sullivan said he supports the $1.5 trillion top line, calling it historic and saying, "It meets the needs." He also praised money requested to modernize Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Sullivan did not probe the war in any meaningful way during the hearing, aside from noting that the United States did not intentionally target civilians in an airstrike that destroyed a school in Iran. He also did not respond to an interview request about whether he would support Murkowski's Iran war authorization.
For Murkowski, the issue is no longer whether Congress should weigh in. She has made clear that she believes the legislature must do so now, and that the next fight is over how much power lawmakers are willing to take back from the White House.