Democrats plot to choke off Iran war — with some GOP help

Democrats, on the wings of the big midterm wave , are looking to grind President Trump’s war with Iran to a halt once they retake the majority next year.

Senate Democrats say they have some Republican support to end the conflict, which has dragged on for more than eight months, and have threatened to use the “power of the purse” to deprive the Pentagon of funds needed to wage the war.

Both Trump and Vice President Vance pointed to the Iran war as the main culprit for why Republicans experienced an electoral wipeout, with Democrats taking the majority in the House, Senate, governors’ mansions and statehouses.

“We are going to end the war. We have some Republicans already who have joined us in ending the war, and the Founding Fathers had the power of the purse as one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a press conference Wednesday.

Four Republican senators — Thom Tillis (N.C.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Rand Paul (Ky.) — previously backed Democrats on a resolution to direct the commander in chief to withdraw U.S. service members from hostilities against Iran, barring formal congressional authorization for use of military force.

Congress is staring down a Dec. 11 timeline to fund the government or suffer a shutdown, less than a month before the majorities in both chambers switch. It’s unclear whether Republicans will attempt to pass one final reconciliation bill before losing control, which could include emergency Iran war funding.

Candidates on both sides of the aisle criticized the Iran war during their campaigns, as it became less and less popular. The conflict has cost at least $47 billion , while causing energy prices to skyrocket. Trump had long promised to keep the U.S. out of foreign wars.

Some Democrats, including at least one with 2028 aspirations , said the House caucus should demand an end to Iran war funding as part of any agreement to keep the government funded, even temporarily.

“Support a continuing resolution prohibiting the financing of any combat activities of the U.S. military in Iran. End the Iran war like we did for Vietnam,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, wrote on social media Wednesday.

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a senior member on the House Appropriations Committee, wrote on social media Friday that “we can’t wait until the next Congress to end the war with Iran – it must end NOW!”

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said this week he will introduce a joint resolution to end Iran on the first day of the next Congress.

“And Democrats will use hearings, legislation, oversight and the power of the purse to push the administration toward a durable, diplomatic solution,” Meeks said in a statement to The Hill. “We will keep fighting to end Trump’s failed war of choice, as we focus on addressing the needs of the American people.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who is slated to become House Speaker in January, said in a “Dear Colleague” letter that one the caucus’s priorities will be to stop the “ reckless war of choice ” in Iran.

The White House in June requested $87.6 billion in supplemental funding, which includes $67 billion in Pentagon funding. The package has not gone far in Congress with increased Democratic opposition.

The typically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act is on shaky ground this year amid partisan infighting. Democrats think the policy bill’s top-line number should be shaved off hundreds of billions of dollars, and they are demanding guardrails around the U.S. war with Iran.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Saturday during Crooked Media’s “Crooked Con” event in Washington, D.C., that Democrats should halt funding for White House operations to make the president end the conflict.

“We control that. So if he can’t find a way out of this, we can put pressure on him,” Kelly said in reference to Trump. Hours later, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, endorsed Kelly’s pitch .

Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), who is expected to be the next chair of the New Democrat Coalition, said the Democrats’ leverage to end the Iran war rests in the funding process. But she also wants answers from the Pentagon about what victory looks like.

“I do think that it’s through the Defense budget and the appropriations process. It is the power of the purse. I think we know that this administration put out a ridiculous, eye-popping amount to Congress to fund this war. There’s going to be no appetite for that. And so, I think that that is going to be, probably, the most important tool that we’re going to have in our toolbox to hold them accountable,” Budzinski said in a phone interview with The Hill.

“But I also am eager, beyond just the appropriations process, to have them come before Congress to explain what does success — they still have not articulated what success looks like,” the Illinois Democrat said.

Some top House Republicans agree about the lack of strategy over the war, which has emptied out the U.S. military magazines of top-tier weapons systems and left U.S. bases in the Middle East severely damaged by Iranian attacks.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, declined on Friday to say whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should be impeached or otherwise removed from office.

“But I can tell you with a high level of confidence that … there’s a lot of questions about Hegseth,” Comer said Friday during his appearance on NewsNation, The Hill’s broadcast partner.

“We have no idea what the strategy is moving forward in Iran. No one’s happy about Iran, and I think the Republican voters are more upset about what’s going on in Iran than the Democrat voters,” Comer said.

House Democrats, who have long called for Hegseth’s removal , said the oversight will not stop there. They are also encouraging their GOP colleagues to pass a bill that would prohibit the use of additional funds for the war without congressional approval.

“And every Republican who suddenly found the courage to oppose the war come election season better put their money where their mouth is and vote to end the war and pass my bill to prevent Trump from spending a single dollar more on it,” Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), another House Armed Services Committee member and former Army intelligence officer, said in a statement to The Hill.