Where Was The Debate About Iran ? | The Daily Caller

dailycaller.com · Feb 20, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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February 20, 2026 12:57 PM ET The United States appears to be on the verge of war with Iran, as we are witnessing the biggest buildup of military assets in the Middle East region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Although there has been much spirited debate on X regarding potential U.S. intervention in Iran, debate among our representatives in Congress — you know, the people who should have the sole power to declare war — has been nil. No debate. No public hearings. And no oversight.Instead, we are getting largely crickets from a neutered Republican caucus, the deafening silence of cowardice, save for Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie. Democrats aren’t any better, either. However, one brave voice, Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna, has indicated that he will force a vote on the War Powers Resolution on Iran, which he introduced with Massie, later in February. This resolution would block President Trump from engaging U.S. armed forces in hostilities with the Ayatollah regime. (RELATED: ‘Patriots’: Trump Tells Iranians To ‘Save The Names Of The Killers And Abusers’) NORFOLK, VIRGINIA – JUNE 24: U.S. Navy sailors stand along the deck as they prepare for the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to depart from the Naval Station Norfolk on June 24, 2025, in Norfolk, Virginia. The aircraft carrier is leaving on its scheduled deployment to the U.S. European Command area of responsibility. The deployment comes during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) It might be too late. A Trump adviser told Axios on Wednesday, “The boss is getting fed up. Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is 90% chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks.” And now that the Supreme Court has blown up Trump’s tariff agenda, the president, backed into a corner on domestic policy, may feel the urge to flex and project his power abroad, in the Middle East. (RELATED: ‘Boss Is Getting Fed Up’: War With Iran Could Be Closer Than Americans Realize) Whether or not you believe the U.S. should strike Iran is besides the point. The point is that we must have a public debate before the missiles fly, and Congress must uphold its duty as a coequal branch of government before a strike mutates into a global world war. In the lead-up to the Iraq invasion, the Bush administration at least made a case for intervention, however misplaced. Although we were barreling toward folly, bloodshed, and waste, we tried to honor the spirit of our Constitution by voting to authorize military force, though we never formally declared war. In fact, not since World War II has Congress formally declared war, yet we have waged wars in Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. Operations in Somalia. Drone strikes in Yemen. The capture of Nicolas Maduro. Through all these wars, conflicts, and operations, Congress has abdicated its awesome, explicit power to initiate a war to the executive branch. This was not as the framers intended. They feared an imperial presidency. They loathed the idea that, on the whim of a king, a nation could be dragged to war. WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 09: U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) (L) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) arrive to offices of the Department of Justice on February 9, 2026 in Washington, DC. Khann and Massie, the co-authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, were permitted to review an unredacted version of the Epstein files today as part of their ongoing investigation. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images) Today, no such anti-imperial spirit dwells in our leaders. They are too beholden to partisan politicking, the defense industry, and foreign interests to uphold the Constitution — at least on matters of war and foreign policy. We like to believe we still live in a Constitutional Republic, but that is increasingly an illusion. Our Constitution has become window dressing. A veil that hides an ugly, bipartisan war machine that will stop at nothing until the Swamp’s interests are served. This issue began long before Trump and today’s news cycle, and will extend beyond him, too. Just because our current president has an R in front of his name, that does not give him Constitutional wiggle room. Just because he is “commander-in-chief,” that does not give him, nor his cabinet, the authority to launch our country into war. That power belongs to Congress, and Congress only. In a hypothetical world, if Kamala Harris were president, and she was poised to launch airstrikes against Russia, most Republicans, if not all, who are cheering for intervention in Iran, would make the very same argument against her that I am making today. Sadly, our partisanship has blinded us to the damage inflicted on the Constitution by presidents, Republican and Democrat alike, who have waged wars over the decades without Congress’s approval. If we stay blinded, we will stumble into folly after folly after folly, an endless cycle of wars and conflicts that drain our economy and will as citizens. Our slide into Empire will continue apace. We will have failed our Founders, and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.