Name: Rep. DelBene on Democratic reaction to Trump's Iran war
Uploaded: 2026-03-02T23:02:05.000Z
Duration: 8 min 33 s
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As we've reported, President Trump's decision to strike Iran has drawn mixed reaction on Capitol Hill, but

some fear this war could carry political risks for Republicans in November's midterm elections.

Several domestic issues are already top of mind for voters, including health care and affordability.

Democrats are now restrategizing about how to change the balance of power in Congress.

Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Susan Del Bene.

She represents Washington State and is also the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee or the D Triple C.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us.

Just to get started, let's get your reaction to this war, as the president has called it, a war in Iran, which he initiated without congressional approval.

Well, we should all be clear that Iran has been, you know, their regime has been violent, repressive of their own people, has spread terrorism around the world.

So, absolutely, there has been great concern about Iran for a long time.

But if the president, if members of his administration want to take action, they have to come to Congress.

There needs to be a justification, an explanation of why they need to move.

And so these preemptive strikes that they have taken, we have no information of why, what was the sense of urgency, and

In fact, the first briefing that I will get will be tomorrow afternoon, long after these strikes took place four days in.

The president has shown repeatedly that he's not interested in getting congressional approval for these kinds of actions.

When the US And Israel struck Iran in June, when we went after Maduro, Congress was not involved, nor did they approve.

What can Congress do to be a limit on the executive branch as was designed in the Constitution.

This is where Congress needs to stand up.

Republicans in Congress who are in the majority in the House and the Senate, have been blindly loyal to the president.

They refuse to do their jobs as members of Congress and stand up and take a vote, take a vote on things that are critically important to our communities, to our country.

And absolutely having a vote on authorization for use of military force is required.

And we should be demanding that in a bipartisan way.

But unfortunately, we have Republicans who, again, are just a rubber stamp for the president and refuse to stand up.

Even some Democrats, though, are not on board with the War Powers Resolution.

Well, I think actually, again, coming to Congress asking for authorization, if folks want to support a particular action, because A case has been made, then people can vote.

The president needs to come to Congress requesting an author for use of military force.

And then people based on the information that's provided can make their decision.

He cannot move without coming to Congress.

And he campaign talked about preventing and ending forever wars over and over and over.

He has broken the promises to the American people, whether it is on this, whether it's on lowering prices.

People across the country are outraged because they want a Congress that will stand up for them and they're tired of broken promises.

They want folks who are going to work for them and address the issues facing the American people.

We don't know yet how long this war will drag on, if it will be a forever war.

Pete Hegseth said clearly in no uncertain terms that this will not be that kind of a conflict.

The president said it could go on several weeks.

Republicans, though, are praising this action.

President Trump's decision to launch this decisive action against Iran is the single most important decision of his presidency.

I think he laid out powerfully and effectively why he is taking this action.

He is taking this action because the government of Iran is a profound and malign influence.

They have been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for 47 years.

They have, over that time, killed nearly 1,000Americans.

They provide more than 90% of the funding for Hamas.

They provide more than 90 percent of the funding for Hezbollah.

The Iranian Ayatollah was, until yesterday, actively trying to murder the President of the United States.

That is Senator Ted Cruz speaking to our Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation.

Clearly, many Republicans support some Democrats have not been as critical as you are.

But even if this resolution passes, the president still has to sign it.

Well, again, Congress has the power to declare war.

So if Senator Cruz feels like this was the right thing to do, then that case needs to be made.

We have not seen data supporting the need for an imminent strike.

We have not seen data supporting why such military action needed to be taken at this time.

we need to know what the objectives are and we need to know what the long term exit strategy is.

None of that has been provided by the administration.

Those are the questions we have and we'll have going forward.

You will be briefed tomorrow by members of the administration.

But tomorrow is also primary day in Texas.

Well, it's primary day in Texas and in North Carolina, important areas.

And you know, let's be clear, Republicans know that they are losing across the country the broken promises to the American people.

And so they tried to redraw the maps in Texas.

But we still have opportunities to pick up seats.

So we have primaries happening in important districts like in Texas 15 and 35, where we have opportunities to flip districts.

We have, we only need three more seats to take back the majority in the House of Representatives.

Voters are turning out and again, they want folks are going to stand up for them.

They want folks who are not rubber stamps for Donald Trump but are standing up for our communities, are coming to Congress to do their work.

This will be the first step we'll see in Texas and in North Carolina, where we have swing districts, opportunity to take back the majority.

The Democratic Party's been planning for months on its midterm strategy since the president was elected.

How does this impact this war with Iran, impact Democratic strategy?

Well, I think from the very beginning, the president has broken promises to the American people.

He said he was going to lower costs on day one.

We've seen costs go up on housing, food, health care, child care, energy costs, all going up directly because of actions of the administration.