(Adds the word ‘a’ in paragraph 2)
(Reuters) -U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed efforts on Monday by lawmakers to advance a measure to check President Donald Trump’s use of military force against Iran, after Tehran said it carried out a missile attack on the Al Udeid U.S. airbase in Qatar.
Asked whether he would allow the House of Representatives to vote on a bipartisan resolution, Johnson told reporters: “I don’t think this is an appropriate time for a war powers resolution, and I don’t think it’s necessary.”
Republican Representative Thomas Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna introduced their resolution days before Trump ordered U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday and have since claimed that the president’s actions require congressional authorization.
Iran’s military said on Monday that it carried out a missile attack on U.S. forces in Qatar, where explosions were heard across the capital.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine has introduced a similar resolution in the Senate that he said lawmakers could vote on as early as this week.
“Our War Powers Resolution has 57 cosponsors. Whether you like it or not, Congress will be voting on U.S. hostilities in Iran,” Massie said in a post on the social media platform X earlier on Monday.
Johnson and other Republicans insist that Trump had the authority to take unilateral action against Iran to eliminate a potential nuclear threat to the United States and other countries.
“The President made an evaluation that the danger was imminent enough to take his authority as commander in chief and make that happen,” the speaker said.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Alistair Bell)
