'If You Can Keep It': What Trump Owes Congress

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🗓️ 16 March 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

President Donald Trump and his administration and allies have sent mixed messages about the war with Iran in the first two weeks of the operation. The Secretary of Defense called it war. Now, the Speaker of the House said thus conflict with Iran is not a war.

Whatever the president decides to call the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign – it’s cost the lives of 13 American troops and more than 2,000 people in the Middle East, both civilians and military personnel.

Congress has voted on a resolution to limit the president’s power to continue this campaign – but that effort failed. And the president hasn’t indicated he wants Congress to weigh in. Many Republican members appear unbothered by that fact. At least in public.

What does Trump owe Congress as far as buy-in on war? And how have past presidents involved the legislative branch when deploying the military?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	President Trump and his administration and allies have sent mixed messages about the war with Iran in the first two weeks of the operation.
0:15.5	The Secretary of Defense called it a war. The Republican Speaker of the House said Iran is not a war, and the president
0:22.5	has said both. Which one is it? Well, it's both. It's both. It's an excursion that will keep us out of
0:31.2	a war, and the war is going to be, I mean, for them it's a war. For us, it's turned out to be easier than we thought.
0:40.2	Whatever the president calls the joint U.S. and Israeli campaign of missile and
0:44.2	airstrikes that started February 28th, the cost so far in lives 13 U.S. troops, more than
0:51.0	2,000 people in the Middle East overall, both civilians and military.
0:56.2	Congress has voted on a resolution to limit the president's power to wage this campaign.
1:02.1	That effort failed. Beyond that, the president has made little effort to involve Congress
1:06.8	or build public support before launching this war. Many Republican members, though not all, appear unbothered by those facts, at least in public.
1:16.4	I'm Todd's Willick in for Jen White.
1:18.0	You're listening to the 1A podcast today for our weekly politics series.
1:22.4	If you can keep it, we're asking, what does President Trump owe Congress as far as buy-in on war?
1:29.1	And how have past presidents involved the legislative branch when deploying the military,
1:33.1	plus what the president owes you, the American public, and how he's chosen to explain or
1:38.7	avoid explaining the justifications and objectives for this war.
1:43.5	That's after this break, stay with us.
1:50.4	Welcome back. Let's get into our conversation and meet our guests. Joining me in studio now is
1:55.5	Liz Goodwin. She's Congress Reporter for the Washington Post. Welcome back, Liz. Thanks for having me.
2:00.6	Great to have you here. Also joining us from Washington, D.C., Sarah Binder, she's a senior fellow
2:05.6	in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a professor of political science at the George
2:10.9	Washington University. Sarah, welcome back to you. Great. Thanks for having me. The president engaged in
	...

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