By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives backed President Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran on Thursday, narrowly defeating a Democratic-led resolution aiming to stop the war until hostilities are authorized by Congress.
The war powers resolution was defeated by 214 to 213 in the Republican-majority chamber, a day after a similar measure was blocked in the Senate.
The vote was almost exclusively along party lines, with every Republican except one opposing the resolution, and one voting present. One Democrat voted against it.
The vote underscored the continuing support among Trump’s fellow Republicans for the president’s war policy, more than six weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.
Democrats have called on the president to come to Congress for authorization for the use of military force, noting that the U.S. Constitution says that Congress, not the president, can declare war.
However, presidents from both parties have long held that the restriction does not apply for short-term operations or if the country is under immediate threat.
The White House, and almost all of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress, say Trump’s actions are legal and within his rights as commander-in-chief to protect the U.S. by ordering limited military operations.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Editing by Franklin Paul)
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