{"id":46907,"date":"2026-02-26T11:39:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46907"},"modified":"2026-02-26T11:43:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:43:04","slug":"top-dems-reportedly-working-to-sabotage-bill-to-stop-trump-war-with-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/top-dems-reportedly-working-to-sabotage-bill-to-stop-trump-war-with-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Dems Reportedly Working to Sabotage Bill to Stop Trump War With Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Democratic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) hold a press conference on Thursday, January 8, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin\/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Ro Khanna said the Democrats trying to kill the bill were beholden to \u201cpowerful interests that are itching to have regime change in Iran.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 25, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Democrats are reportedly working behind the scenes to stop a vote that would force them to go on the record about whether they support a Trump administration<\/a> attack on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the president amasses<\/a> an armada in the Middle East in apparent preparation<\/a> for an unauthorized military action, Reps. Ro Khanna<\/a> (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) planned to force a vote this week on their war powers resolution, which would require congressional authorization for any attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-DEMOCRATS\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Trump Marches US Toward Iran War, Critics Ask: Where\u2019s the \u2018Pushback\u2019 From Dems and Media?<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Negotiations<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Peace Campaigners Demand Congress Stop Trump From Waging \u2018Devastating\u2019 War on Iran<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The congressmen have emphasized that time is of the essence, as Trump has signaled<\/a> that a strike may come any day, and Iran has indicated it may retaliate with devastating force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A war with Iran is overwhelmingly unpopular with the American public: According to a YouGov poll published<\/a> Tuesday, just 27% said they\u2019d support military force while 49% oppose it. Democrats are even more united, with 76% saying they\u2019d oppose a war and just 9% support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, as independent journalist A\u00edda Ch\u00e1vez\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in her newsletter\u00a0Capital & Empire<\/em>, Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have tried to \u201cdampen momentum and prevent the Iran war powers vote from advancing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/brhodes\/status\/2026469987343610191?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2026469987343610191%7Ctwgr%5E77b84fee59cedf2b722550eef08be7c9c01307b0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fdems-sabotage-iran-war-powers-resolution<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple sources have told her that \u201ca top Democratic HFAC staffer… deliberately inflated projections of opposition to the bipartisan measure\u2014warning of 20 to 40 Democratic defections\u201d in a bid to indicate the resolution would fail overwhelmingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said a senior Democratic congressional staffer told her it\u2019s \u201cpretty clear\u201d Democratic leadership is working to \u201cdelay or potentially sideline\u201d the vote on the war powers resolution. \u201cIf you\u2019ve been around the Hill, this is a familiar playbook,\u201d the staffer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLeadership rarely comes out and says they oppose these votes outright, because they know the underlying issue is popular with the base,\u201d said the staffer, who works on foreign policy. \u201cInstead, you see process concerns, timing objections, and caucus-unity arguments used to slow things down or keep members off the record. We\u2019ve seen the same approach on past war powers votes and foreign policy amendments that clash with the national security elite consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic leaders have largely tempered their criticisms of Trump\u2019s buildup for what would be potentially the most consequential military action taken by the US in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schumer, one of the top recipients<\/a> of funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC<\/a>) and other pro-Israel donors, has limited his criticisms of Trump\u2019s war posturing to questions of procedure rather than policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked earlier this week about potential US strikes on Iran, Schumer lamented<\/a> that discussion was being held in \u201cclosed-door briefings,\u201d saying that \u201cthe administration has to make its case to the American people as something as important as this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a similar statement that did not object to war in principle but rather the fact that Trump\u2019s reasons for making war were unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe president and his administration have not tried to explain whether their goal is to destroy Iran\u2019s nuclear program, protect Iranian protestors, pursue regime change, or simply distract from hisfailure to deliver on his promises at home,\u201d Coons said<\/a> in a statement posted to social media<\/a>. \u201cCongress and the American people need answers about what our objectives are in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> is reportedly weighing<\/a> a massive military operation that could entail assassinating Iran\u2019s leaders. Meanwhile, Iran has said<\/a> in the event of a massive attack, it would consider US military<\/a> bases to be \u201clegitimate targets,\u201d meaning US servicemembers could be at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Drop Site News <\/em>reported<\/a> late last week, based on conversations with an unnamed aide to Schumer back in June\u2014weeks before Trump attacked three nuclear sites in Iran\u2014a number of important Senate Democrats believed that if Trump wants to start a war with Iran, they shouldn\u2019t stand in his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only did these Democrats believe that \u201cIran ultimately needed to be dealt with militarily,\u201d but they \u201calso understood that going to war again in the Middle East would be a political catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s precisely why they wanted Trump to be the one to do it,\u201d the report continued. \u201cThe hope was that Iran would take a blow and so would Trump\u2014a win-win for Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Capitol Hill sources told Ch\u00e1vez that, in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> (D-NY) and other leaders have not been whipping support for the Khanna-Massie resolution, while few members have openly endorsed it, even as no other war powers resolutions are up for a vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two leading pro-Israel Democrats, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), came<\/a> out against the war powers resolution on Friday, with Moskowitz deriding<\/a> it as the \u201cAyatollah Protection Act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, they claimed that Iran was \u201cstill pursuing a nuclear weapon,\u201d even though US intelligence agencies<\/a> and the United Nations\u2019 International Atomic Energy Agency<\/a> (IAEA) have assessed the opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s leaders have expressed<\/a> a willingness to reach an agreement with the United States<\/a> that limits their ability to develop a nuclear weapon while allowing them to pursue peaceful nuclear technology<\/a> in line with the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IAEA assessed<\/a> that at the time Trump pulled the US out of a previous nuclear agreement in 2018, Iran was complying with its terms. Since the deal\u2019s collapse, it has begun to scale up uranium enrichment, according to a report<\/a> by the agency last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rep. Ro Khanna is again challenging pro-war Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mike Lawler to a public debate on why the United States should go to war with Iran.

Khanna is working with Rep. Thomas Massie on a War Powers resolution to block military action without congressional approval.\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/IEcfLADLM0<\/a><\/p>— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) February 24, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>