Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Wednesday evening that Congress must reassert its constitutional authority over war powers, warning that the United States is already engaged in a war with Iran despite lawmakers not authorizing it.
In an interview with MS NOW’s Chris Hayes, Schiff spoke after the Senate rejected a War Powers Resolution aimed at constraining President Donald Trump’s military actions against Iran.
The resolution, introduced by Schiff alongside Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), failed in the Senate after nearly all Republicans and Democratic Senator John Fetterman voted against it.
Schiff said the measure was intended to stop what he described as a “war of choice” and to restore Congress’s constitutional role in authorizing military action.
According to Schiff, the administration has offered shifting explanations for the conflict. He pointed to statements from officials including State Secretary Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, which he pointed out have presented different justifications for the president’s military operation.
Schiff stated that none of those explanations point to an imminent threat from Iran that would justify unilateral military action. He said allowing the war to proceed without congressional authorization risks establishing a dangerous precedent that would give future presidents broad authority to launch conflicts without legislative approval.
Schiff Calls Out His Republican Colleagues
The interview also addressed what Hayes described as mixed messaging from the White House about whether the United States is actually at war. While some officials have publicly avoided the term, others—including the president—have used it.
Schiff said the distinction is largely political.
He recounted raising the issue during a classified briefing, noting that multiple officials—including Hegseth and the president himself—have referred to the conflict as a war. Given the scale of the military bombardment and attacks on U.S. bases in the region, Schiff said the situation clearly meets the definition of a war.
According to Schiff, the administration is attempting to acknowledge the conflict while avoiding the constitutional implications that would require Congress to vote on authorizing it.
He criticized his Republican colleagues for skirting around the issue and refusing to acknowledge the situation in the Middle East as a war. “That’s the kind of political cowardice that we’re seeing,” he stated. “This is war,” Schiff further added, “and there’s no escaping it.”
Schiff Points To The Costs Of War
The conversation also turned to the financial cost of the war. Hayes cited Pentagon estimates placing the cost at roughly $1 billion per day.
Schiff said those expenditures come with significant opportunity costs, arguing that the same resources could be invested domestically in areas such as healthcare and infrastructure.
“There’s no free lunch here,” he said, arguing that the money devoted to the war represents resources that could otherwise be used to invest in the United States.
