ABNA24 - Following the Democrats’ decisive victory in the US midterm elections, serious discussions have emerged over how a Democrat-controlled Congress could bring an end to President Donald Trump’s war against Iran.
Democrats’ victory in the November 2026 midterm elections and their takeover of both the House of Representatives and the Senate have given them tools that Reuters describes as a “reassertion of Congress’s constitutional authority” vis-à-vis the White House. In five key areas, including the war against Iran, support for Ukraine, military aid to Israel, defense spending and foreign assistance, the new Congress can use its legal powers to constrain the foreign policy of US Republican President Donald Trump.
The most important point regarding Iran is that Trump did not obtain congressional approval before launching the aggression against Iran on February 28, 2026. During their election campaign, Democrats argued that Republicans had surrendered Congress’s powers to declare war and allocate funding to the Trump administration. They can now reclaim those powers and put pressure on the war through legal and budgetary means.
The Democrats’ main instrument is the budgetary leverage. US Senator Bernie Sanders, describing the war against Iran as illegal and unconstitutional, stressed that Democrats could bring it to an end by withholding military funding for the conflict. He has explicitly said that the war can be stopped not merely by passing resolutions, but by cutting off its funding. This means Congress should not limit itself to statements and condemnations; it must use defense spending bills, supplemental war funding and appropriations legislation to prohibit or condition any expenditure on offensive operations against Iran. In effect, control over the budget provides a practical means of restricting Trump's ability to wage the war.
In this regard, Sanders said a Democrat-controlled Congress could step up pressure by amending the 1973 War Powers Resolution, requiring the president to obtain new authorization, restricting funding to defensive and deterrence operations, and delaying confirmation of administration nominees. Sanders has described the war against Iran as illegal and unconstitutional and, pointing to its enormous human and financial costs, believes this gives Democrats an opportunity to bridge the gap between the issues of “the rule of law” and “people’s livelihoods.”
However, cutting off funding is not that simple. The US administration may use existing funds to continue the war, while the president can also veto congressional legislation. Therefore, an effective strategy in this regard would likely require a combination of measures. First, Congress should be compelled to hold an explicit vote on war authorization, placing the political cost of continuing the conflict on those who support it. It should then block any new funding for the war and include a ban on offensive operations in mandatory legislation, such as the defense budget or emergency appropriations bills. Finally, through hearings, subpoenas, watchdog reports and the disclosure of costs, Congress should undermine the legitimacy of the war against Iran.
In this context, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts announced that she was ready to work with Republicans if they responded to the American people's demand to end the war against Iran. Her willingness to cooperate with Republicans who “listen to the American people” suggests that the most viable path is to build a bipartisan majority opposed to the war. However, if Republicans refuse to cooperate, Democrats will have to use the tools at their disposal. Overriding Trump's veto, of course, requires a two-thirds majority, and without one, the budgetary leverage available to Democrats would be more limited.
An important point is that, politically, Democrats have considerable public support to draw on in their efforts to end the war against Iran. Trump's Vice President JD Vance and later Trump himself acknowledged that the war with Iran was a major factor behind the Republicans' defeat in the November 2026 midterm elections. Rising gasoline prices and inflation, coupled with voters' anger over the war, give Democrats an opportunity to present an end to the conflict not as a partisan demand, but as an economic and legal necessity.
It appears that, as Sanders has also pointed out, if Democrats genuinely want to stop the war against Iran, they must not settle for symbolic resolutions. They must demonstrate that the war lacks constitutional authorization, cut off or condition its funding, use confirmation of White House nominees for government posts as leverage, and build the necessary majority by reaching out to public opinion and Republicans critical of the war. Given that real power lies with those who control the budget, the new Democrat-controlled Congress, which takes office in January 2027, could force the Trump administration to seek authorization to continue the war against Iran or bring the illegal war to an end.
/129
Your Comment