Shouldn’t Congress have a say in US military action?

KCRW's Left, Right & Center

KCRW

352865, News

4.2 • 4.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump’s decision to strike Iran has sparked debate in Congress over the executive branch’s ability to take military action without authorization. The strikes Trump ordered last week were in line with recent precedent. But some critics and supporters alike are calling for restrictions to his ability to take further action in Iran. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the debate ill-timed, and openly questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act. That act requires the president to seek Congressional approval before declarations of war. Is this another battleground in the fight over legislative checks and balances?

Trump’s assistance with a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran led to a warm reception at a NATO security summit later in the week. The summit was planned to discuss the war in Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Iran, and other alliance concerns. Much of the focus landed on the ceasefire and an agreement by members to commit 5% of their GDP to defense. The new spending mark was seen as a major concession to Trump, who had threatened since his first term to leave the alliance if it wasn’t met. But was the decision made more for self-preservation than appeasement?

Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, won the Democratic primary in New York City’s mayoral race. Progressives are pointing to his victory as a beacon for Democrats nationwide to push further to the left. Does that ignore the fact that he ran against the scandal-ridden former governor Andrew Cuomo?

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0:00.0	The election has come and gone.
0:03.6	Now we're in a new era.
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0:28.1	wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Left, Right and Center. I'm McKay Copp and
0:34.8	staff writer at The Atlantic and your host this week filling in for
0:37.8	David Green. We have our usual left, right and center panel joining me this week. Moa Lathie is
0:43.8	executive director at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service. He was also
0:49.0	communications director for the DNC and an advisor to Hillary Clinton. Sarah Isger, senior editor at the dispatch and host of the advisory opinions podcast, is a lawyer and was the spokesperson at the Department of Justice under President Trump.
1:04.1	Hey, guys.
1:05.0	It's going on, McCain.
1:06.0	Welcome back.
1:06.8	Good to be here.
1:08.4	Well, a lot can change in a few days. Last week, President Trump announced
1:13.0	he would take two weeks to make a decision on U.S. military involvement in the conflict between
1:17.3	Israel and Iran. Less than 48 hours after that, he was giving an address from the White House
1:23.0	announcing that he'd ordered strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites. A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime, Fordot, Nantz, and Esfahan.
1:41.3	Critics had worried that the U.S. bombing Iran would destabilize the country and lead to a long
1:46.4	protracted conflict, and Iran did retaliate by launching missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar. But just two
	...

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