On June 16, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, introduced a [war powers resolution](chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.kaine.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/iran_war_powers_resolution.pdf) expressing concern about the escalating violence in the Middle East and its potential to pull the U.S. into the conflict. The resolution will require a prompt debate and vote prior to using any U.S. military force against Iran.
“It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States. I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict,” said Kaine. “The American people have no interest in sending servicemembers to fight another forever war in the Middle East. This resolution will ensure that if we decide to place our nation’s men and women in uniform into harm’s way, we will have a debate and vote on it in Congress.” (His formulations remind this writer of the joke about Joe Biden on the airplane, learning that the last of four engines has finally gone kaput, after hearing that each engine failure will delay the landing by two hours, replying, “Shoot, now we’ll be up here all day!")
