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Elected Republicans in Washington have, to a person, betrayed their oaths of office. Which means Donald Trump’s illegal war of choice against Iran will continue until he chooses to withdraw or the military runs out of weapons and cash.
Whatever Trump decides to do, though, Congress will face questions about the costs he incurred along the way. And that debate will provide Democrats an opportunity to flex their fighting muscles once again. On the heels of the successful Homeland Security shutdown fight, they can show that they will no longer begin each Trump confrontation with a blank slate, waiting for him to act. They can demonstrate in deed how they intend to constrain him through the end of his term.
Reporting suggests the White House may request a $200 billion supplemental appropriation, which in turn points to either a long war or a very wasteful one. Two-hundred billion dollars is a significant fraction of our direct spending on the Iraq war, which lasted for years and never required a supplemental appropriation nearly that large.
If the proposition is “give us money to continue the war,” the answer from Democrats has to be no. They must not bless this war in any way, not even implicitly. Indeed, as I argued here, Democrats should announce that they won’t authorize a penny for this humiliating debacle. They can even rub GOP noses in the waste by drawing up a shadow budget: What would we spend $200 billion on, if we were in charge, to advance the country’s true interests? Restoring medical research funding? The health care Trump already took away? A clean energy and transportation program to insure against a lengthy oil shock?
But there’s also the separate question of what to do if and after Trump withdraws in the nearer term, and it gives rise to a conundrum: The war will be “over” insofar as the U.S. military will no longer be engaged in active hostilities. But a) the waste won’t replenish itself; and yet b)