Senate Democrats' calls for public Iran hearings grow louder

Senate Democrats stepped up pressure on Republicans to conduct public hearings on the conduct of the Iran war, but senior GOP senators were noncommittal on whether they would do so.

The partisan tension comes as the Pentagon announced Tuesday that approximately 140 troops have been injured since the U.S. and Israeli strikes began on Feb. 28, in addition to seven U.S. military combat deaths due to Iranian strikes.

Iranian deaths exceed 1,000 by most estimates, including perhaps 175 killed in what all signs suggest was an errant U.S. missile strike on an elementary school in the Iranian town of Minab. If American culpability in the strike is confirmed, the accident would be among the deadliest civilian casualty events in U.S. military history.

Meanwhile, Iran has all but cut off the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil shipments normally transit, driving up energy prices and sending shock waves through the global economy.

President Donald Trump has offered varied and sometimes conflicting explanations for the reason for the war and the endgame.

The ‘role of Congress’

A group of six Democratic senators threatened Monday to force votes on as many additional war powers resolutions as needed unless public Iran war hearings are scheduled, including with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The Iran war powers resolutions filed to date would require the withdrawal of U.S. forces from hostilities absent congressional authorization, although the House has so far considered only nonbinding concurrent resolutions.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., threw his support behind the six senators on Monday.

On Tuesday, the top Democrats on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees — Sens. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, respectively — added their voices to the chorus. In a letter to Trump that was also signed by Schumer, they called for hearings and criticized the administration’s execution of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign.

“Public hearings featuring cabinet-level witnesses has been a standard part of congressional oversight throughout our history, including recent military conflicts, as well as during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the three senators wrote. “After all, our founders were clear about the role of Congress in matters of war as the representatives of the American people.”

More war powers votes loom

The House and Senate each cast votes last week that echoed the results of earlier Iran war powers resolutions. More such votes could happen this month in both chambers, starting in the Senate as soon as next week.

The five joint resolutions filed on March 5 ripen for a vote in the Senate next week, said Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., one of the senators pushing for votes if public hearings don’t happen. Murphy sponsored two of the five new measures.

“So we should have hearings on the Iran war next week,” Murphy told reporters. “There’s no excuse to hide what the administration is doing from the public. So by next week, we’ll be able to call up a vote every day on war powers and force at least a short debate and vote every day.”

The House, meanwhile, may also vote soon on one or more additional nonbinding concurrent resolutions to halt U.S. involvement in the war absent congressional authorization.

For example, a vote on a concurrent resolution by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., could occur the week of March 23.

‘Gag order’

Hegseth, Rubio and other top administration officials have conducted several classified briefings for lawmakers. On Tuesday, Defense Department officials held another classified briefing for Senate Armed Services Committee members.

In addition, Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have held several news conferences on the Iran war, including one on Tuesday morning at the Pentagon.

But a news conference isn’t the same as elected representatives questioning administration officials, and secret briefings hamstring what lawmakers can say about what they learn, Democrats argue.

“It’s almost like a gag order to keep us from getting these questions before the public,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine told reporters on Monday.

The joint resolutions were introduced on March 5 by three Democratic senators besides Murphy: Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Adam B. Schiff of California. Those senators, along with Democrats Kaine of Virginia and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, form the core group pushing for greater oversight of the war and a congressional say over its continuation.

Within 10 days of introduction, a senator could force a full-Senate vote on discharging the Foreign Relations Committee from considering any one of the joint resolutions.

GOP reticence

Republicans were lukewarm at best about the need for hearings.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters the Armed Services Committee’s forthcoming hearings on the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which may not occur for weeks, would be one forum for airing concerns about the Iran war.

The committee is “going to have all those folks coming through on a fairly routine basis anyway, and I’m sure this will be a subject for their discussion,” Thune said.

The chairmen of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations panels — Republican Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Jim Risch of Idaho, respectively — wouldn’t commit to hearings when questioned by reporters on Tuesday.

Two GOP members of the Armed Services Committee, Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Ted Budd of North Carolina, deferred to Wicker on whether public Iran war hearings should be held.

“I don’t think it’s necessary at this time,” Ernst said of a public hearing.

_____

(Savannah Behrmann and Aidan Quigley contributed to this report.)

_____