Senate Republicans Vote to Keep War Going So As Not To Set a Precedent for Finishing Things On Time
Lawmakers who blocked a resolution to end the Iran conflict reportedly worried that stopping a war before a scheduled recess might normalize efficiency.
Senate Republicans, having successfully blocked a war powers resolution aimed at ending the Iran conflict, moved swiftly to a follow-up measure formally extending the war through the next several fiscal quarters, citing a need to avoid the appearance of concluding anything ahead of deadline.
"We've never finished a war on the first try, and we're not about to start now," said a Senate aide who was not authorized to speak and also not entirely sure which war was being discussed. "Precedent matters."
The resolution to extend the war passed by voice vote, sandwiched between a vote to rename a post office and a vote to adjourn early for a fundraiser. Several senators who had privately expressed discomfort with the ongoing conflict said they remained committed to expressing that discomfort privately, indefinitely, and possibly in a memoir.
A newly formed Subcommittee on the Continuation of Ongoing Conflicts announced it would meet next month to schedule a hearing on whether to schedule a vote on whether the war should someday be discussed. No end date was proposed, out of respect for the institution's longstanding tradition of not proposing end dates.
Asked whether the war might ever conclude, the aide said only that concluding things was "more of a House thing."