Policy Explainer: Congress Has a Tool to Stop This War. Will It Use It?

You may have heard senators on both sides of the aisle mention the War Powers Act this week. But what exactly is it — and why does it matter to you?

The short version: It's the law that says the president cannot take the country to war alone.

Here's the background.

The U.S. Constitution divides war-making power between two branches of government. Congress has the power to declare war. The president, as Commander in Chief, has the power to conduct it. For most of American history, that balance held.

Then came Vietnam. Presidents sent hundreds of thousands of troops into combat without a formal declaration of war. Congress watched its constitutional authority slip away — and in 1973, it pushed back.

Enter the War Powers Resolution.

Passed over President Nixon's veto, the War Powers Act requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying U.S. forces into hostilities. It also limits any unauthorized military engagement to 60 days, with a 30-day withdrawal period, unless Congress explicitly authorizes the war.

In other words: the president can act quickly in a crisis, but cannot wage an open-ended war without the people's representatives weighing in.

So why are we talking about it now?

The United States is currently three weeks into active military conflict with Iran — involving strikes on Iranian soil, 13 American service members killed, and operations across more than a dozen countries. Congress has not voted to authorize this war. Several senators, including Cory Booker and Adam Schiff, are pushing for a War Powers Resolution to force that debate.

And here is the hard truth: wars rarely end quickly. This one has no clearly stated objective, no defined exit strategy, and an adversary that has repeatedly demonstrated it can absorb punishment and keep fighting. History — from Korea to Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan — tells us that what begins as weeks can become months, and months can become years. The longer this goes on without congressional authorization, the more important the War Powers Act becomes.

Why does this matter to you?

Because in a democracy, the decision to send Americans to war — and to ask American families to bear that cost in blood and dollars — belongs to all of us. Not just one person.

The War Powers Act was designed to make sure it stays that way.

Leading Ladies Vote believes in equal political representation and a government that is accountable to the people it serves. That starts with Congress doing its job.