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Despite reports of waning munitions, spiking gas prices and concerns of no clear objectives moving forward, Senate Republicans are still giving President Donald Trump wiggle room in the war in Iran.
Republicans again blocked another war powers resolution to force an immediate withdrawal of America’s military might from Iran on Thursday. Senate Democrats have tried and failed to convince enough of their Republican colleagues to consistently buck the war over a dozen times as it stretches into its fifth month.
The latest effort from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., failed along similar lines as last week’s effort, where only a small cohort of Senate Republicans crossed the aisle to end the war.
REPUBLICANS FALL IN LINE WITH TRUMP ON IRAN WAR DESPITE RISING COSTS AND US DEATH TOLL
One Republican who did join Democrats, but has since reversed course, is Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who got into a shouting match with Trump and demanded a briefing on the situation in Iran.
He got that briefing and has since flipped his vote, which he acknowledged was used as “leverage to get some information.” Still, he doesn’t totally support what’s going on, but used “All the King’s Men” as an example to show that the situation and the politics of it are not black and white.
“It is a gradation,” Cassidy said. “What we’re doing here is a gradation, a murkiness, a vagueness, but we’re trying to see our way through it. And I’m trying to see my way through it.”
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But he drew a hard line on ground troops entering Iran.
“If there are ground troops, by definition, there needs to be a declaration of war from Congress on this, period,” Cassidy said.
The latest votes come as reports of munitions continuing to dwindle have reverberated through Congress, and as the Pentagon and War Secretary Pete Hegseth plead for more defense funding.
HEGSETH DISMISSES ‘FOOLISH’ US STOCKPILE CONCERNS AS IRAN CONFLICT TESTS MUNITIONS
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has been wary of the war but has so far not broken with Trump to back Democrats’ resolutions, said, “Obviously, it’s concerning” that the nation’s munitions stockpile is dropping, but countered that a closed-door debriefing on the matter could sate concerns.
“And of course, if they are chronically low and affecting war strategy, then we should make it a priority,” Tillis said.
When asked whether he had been adequately briefed, Tillis said, “No.”
Munitions have been a concern throughout the war in Iran, and with renewed strikes starting last week, they are again back at the forefront of the conversation about the strategy in the region.
A report released Monday from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found, for example, that renewed fighting in the Middle East found that Patriot and THAAD interceptor missiles, which are used to thwart incoming projectiles and drones, had dwindled from prewar inventories of 2,330 and 452, respectively, to 759 and 234 missiles.
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“I think there’s pretty solid information that our military is short on munitions, not their fault,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. “Trump launched this war impulsively, without a clear set of achievable objectives, and planning for how to conduct it.”
“The basic failure to plan the amount of munitions that would be necessary is a fatal failing that is directly the responsibility of the commander in chief,” he continued.
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