Van Hollen, Khanna Launch Effort to Cut Trump Off From Funding His War on Iran

The lawmakers say they’ll go as far as forcing Donald Trump to choose between ending the war and a government shutdown.

By Sharon Zhang, Truthout

Progressive lawmakers are mounting a campaign to end the Trump administration’s war on Iran by cutting off funding for the effort and potentially forcing a government shutdown, after Democrats won a historic majority running against the unpopular conflict.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) are two figures leading the effort, which is akin to Congress’s efforts to end the Vietnam War, The Washington Sun reports.

The strategy would involve not just stripping funding for the war in existing legislation, but also adding stipulations barring appropriated funds from being used for war operations. This goes further than passing war powers resolutions, which the Trump administration would likely ignore. Analysts have said that the budget is one of the most powerful tools that lawmakers have to end the war.

With their sizable majority in both chambers of Congress, Democrats could force a showdown with President Donald Trump by forcing him to choose between ending his war or shutting down the government.

“I’m not planning to vote for anything that provides any funding to fuel the war in Iran,” Van Hollen said. “If the president wants to tell the country that he’s prepared to shut down the United States government in order to conduct an illegal and senseless war in Iran, that will be his choice.”

Some other Democrats have also voiced their support for the idea of using the power of the purse to end the war this week, including Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. Incoming Sen. Abdul El-Sayed (D-Michigan) has also said he would back such efforts.

Van Hollen and Khanna have said that the effort could be modeled after Congress’s effort to end the Vietnam War in 1973, when Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation that would cut off all funds for bombing Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam unless explicitly authorized by Congress; that same year, Congress passed the War Powers Act over President Richard Nixon’s veto.