WASHINGTON — Top congressional lawmakers shrugged off the supposed Friday deadline to reauthorize the war in Iran, given that it’ll be 60 days since Operation Epic Fury began.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) openly questioned whether reauthorization was even necessary, and Senate GOP lawmakers similarly brushed aside the supposed deadline.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed the 60-day clock stopped running after President Trump announced the military ceasefire on April 7.
“We are in a ceasefire right now,” Hegseth said Thursday during Senate testimony. “The 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire…that’s our understanding, just so you know.”
Under the War Powers Act of 1973, presidents get 60 days to carry out military action abroad and then must terminate the use of force unless Congress has declared war or authorized the use of lethal force.
Presidents can extend military action for 30 days to safely withdraw US forces from hostilities, but they cannot continue an offensive campaign.
“I would defer to the White House and White House Counsel on that,” Hegseth told Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) during a Senate hearing when asked if Trump would ask Congress for reauthorization.
The White House has been coy about whether the president would declare an extension or formally ask for more authority to continue the fighting.
“President Trump has been transparent with the Hill since before Operation Epic Fury began, and administration officials provided over 30 bipartisan briefings for Members of Congress to keep them apprised of military updates,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Post.
“The president’s preference is always diplomacy, and Iran wants to make a deal.”
Since Trump announced the cease-fire April 7, the administration has been in active talks with Iran on a more permanent end to the war.
For the time being, he’s imposed a blockade on Iranian ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz, where over a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies flow through annually.
Notably, former President Barack Obama kept up the NATO campaign against Libya in 2011 beyond the 60-day window without congressional approval.
Johnson echoed Hegseth’s theory that the ongoing cease-fire in Iran nullifies the need for Congress to authorize continued military action in the region.
“I don’t think we have any active kinetic military bombing, firing, anything like that,” the speaker, a trained constitutional lawyer, told NBC. “Right now, we’re trying to broker a peace. And it would be, I would be very reluctant to get in front of the administration in the midst of these very sensitive negotiations.”
“We’re not at war,” he added. “We’re policing the Strait of Hormuz and trying to get to a peace. The president and the administration are moving as aggressively as possible. There’s nothing Congress can do to move that along any further.”
Meanwhile, the White House acknowledged having active talks with lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the War Powers Act and warned them against trying to try and score political points off the issue.
“The administration is in active conversations with the Hill on this topic. Members of Congress who try to score political points by usurping the Commander-in-Chief’s authority would only undermine the United States Military abroad, which no elected official should want to do,” a White House official told The Post.
On Thursday, the Senate considered a sixth War Powers Act resolution to end military action against Iran, but it failed in a 47-50 vote.
