U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick crossed party lines with three other Republicans to pass an Iran war powers resolution in the U.S. House on June 3.
The congressman representing Bucks County and a slice of eastern Montgomery County joined Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, Tom Barrett, R-Michigan and Warrren Davidson, R-Ohio, in voting with Democrats to pass a concurrent resolution to remove the U.S. military from “hostilities with Iran” other than forces required to protect the U.S. or allies from “imminent attack.”
Fitzpatrick had previously voted down other failed war powers resolutions on Iran and introduced his own, which would have allowed the executive branch to pause the clock on the 60-day deadline for congressional approval of military actions currently required under the 1973 War Powers Act when there’s a ceasefire.
The resolution that passed on Wednesday now heads to the U.S. Senate. Concurrent resolutions can’t be vetoed by the president, but also carry no legal weight.
The power to declare war lies with Congress under the U.S. Constitution, however, and the resolution is seen as an expression of legislators’ position toward the war on Iran.
In a statement after the vote, Fitzpatrick argued that “the world is a safer place after Iran’s nuclear capabilities have been degraded,” and also emphasized that the U.S. has three co-equal branches of government.
“The law, as it is currently written, requires that the matter now be brought to Congress. That is why I voted in favor of today’s resolution,” he wrote Wednesday night.
“Until my Resolution is passed by Congress, or until the United States Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the War Powers Act of 1973, we must abide by the law as it is currently written.”
